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CHARLES WILLIAM WASON

COLLECTION

CHINA AND THE CHINESE

THE GIFT OF
CHARLES WILLIAM WASON
CLASS OF 1876
1918

Cornell University Library
BR 128.C5M46

3 1924 022 954 436

The original of tliis book is in
tlie Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

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His Excellency Li Hung Chang.

From a fine photograph presented b}' His Excellenc)'
to Lady Maxim. The Chinese writing relates to his
man}' titles, and was written on the photograpli witli
his own liand.

When His Excellency was in London he was much
amused to find that the English on all auspicious occa-
sions commenced proceedings with a. prayer. He
thought it very curious that a people so far advanced
in the concrete sciences should call to their aid the
imaginary powers of the air.

1' ronhspipi t.

LI HUNG CHANGS
SCRAP-BOOK

Compiled and Edited by
SIR HIRAM STEVENS MAXIM

Chevalier of the Legion of Honour ; Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical

Engineer ; Member of the London Chamber of Commerce ; Member of

THE Royal Institution; Member of the British Association for

the Advancement of Science; Member of the British Empire

League; Member of the Royal Society of Arts, etc., etc.

WITH PORTRAIT OF LI HUNG CHANG AS FRONTISPIECE

and Forty-two Illustrations

London :

WATTS & CO.,

I'j JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.G.

1913

/2p

5)eblcate5 to

THE MEMORY OF

MY DEAR MOTHER,

WHO HATED SUPERSTITION

WITH EVERY DROP OF BLOOD

IN HER HONEST BODY

CONTENTS

PAGE

List of Illustrations - - - vii

Foreword - - ix

Works and Publications Quoted from in this

Compilation - - xxvii

SECTION I.
THE NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY

Introduction - - - 3

The Teaching of Science ... 20

Christianity and Paganism - - 28

Christianity and Persecution - - . 37

The Murder of Hypatia and Bruno - - 49

The Story of Galileo ... gg

Religious Wars and Massacres - - 69

The Inquisition - - - . 82

Witchcraft - - - - 86

The Burning of Joan of Arc - - - 102
Crossness and Superstition in the Middle Ages - 108

The Immorality of the Popes - - 133

The Art of Lying - - - - - iSS

The Evolution of Religion - - . 169

CONTENTS

SECTION II.
CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA

AGE

Introduction - - 176

The Chinese People - 181

Reason and Toleration in China - 196

The Morality of the Chinese - 207

Infanticide - - - 219

Opium - . . . . . 224

The Missionary Nuisance - - - 236

Missionary Presumption - 240

Failure of the Missionaries - - - 260

Europeans in China - 290

How to Deal with Missionaries in China - - 334

Missionaries in Other Lands - - - - 349

CONCLUSION

Miracles - - . - . . 365

Spirituality - - - 366

Faith - - - 366

The Influence of the Bible on the Civilisation

of Europe and America - - . 367

The Chinese and their Children 371

Recent Christian Atrocities - - 371

An Appeal to the Missionaries - 373

Failure of Missionary Propaganda - - . 377

Index

379

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Li Hung Chang .... Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Sir Hiram S. Maxim .... xxiv

Bible Picture— God Making the Sky . . . g

„ „ — God and His Angels - - 8
,, „ — God Introduces Adam and Eve to the

Animals ..... lo
.. „ — Temptation — the Apple and the Talking

Snake - - - .10

„ „ — God Visits the Garden of Eden . 12

„ „ — Eviction of Adam and Eve by an Angel - 12

„ „ — The Flood ..... 14

„ „ — Loading up the Virgins - 16

„ „ — Burning a Calf to Please God . . 18

A Typical Bible Picture — Bones - - - 40

The Holy Office in Ireland - - 78

An Attack by Irish Roman Catholics on Irish Protestants 78

The Holy Apostolic Inquisition .... 82

The Burning of Joan of Arc by the Officials of the Roman

Catholic Church ..... 104
Bible Picture — One of the Phases of Hell as Taught by

Presbyterians and Catholics - - 112

,, „ — ^Jesus Casting out a Multitude of Devils - 122

„ „ — A Very Fine God-Box - - 142

Flogging a Quakeress ..... 146

Bible Picture— The Devil v. Angels - - 172

„ — Putting the Devil in Hell (Bible Version) 172

A Buddhist Temple - - ... 178

Preparing Silk for the Market - - - - 182

vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Chinese Automatic Irrigating Wheel i88

A Chinese Lantern Merchant - 190

A Dinner Party at a Mandarin's House - i94

The Manufacture of Wooden Gods 206

Mansion of a Chinese Merchant near Canton 208

Chinese River Scene - 214

A Chinese Opium Smoldng Saloon - 226

Propitiatory Offerings for Departed Relatives 244
Interior of a Chinese Buddhist Temple— The Buddhist

Trinity 272

A Religious Picture — A Christian Aspect of Hell - 280

Chinese Ladies at Cards - - 302

Interior of a Chinese Gentleman's Mansion 308
The Incarnation of Krishna and the Wonderful Events

that Followed - - - 336
Bible Picture — Christ Transfers 2,000 Devils from one

Man into 2,000 Pigs - 338
Bible Picture — Christ Casts 2,000 Devils out of two Men

into 2,000 Pigs - 338

„ „ — The Devil Places Christ on the Top of an

Exceedingly High Mountain - - 340

>, I, — The Devil places Christ on a Pinnacle of

the Temple - - 340

„ » — Elijah Ascends to Heaven in a Chariot of

Fire 366

„ „ — A Lively Skirmish in the Skies - 366

FOREWORD

On the occasion of the visit of His Excellency
Li Hung Chang to England in 1896, I was told
that, when he stepped ashore at Dover, his first
words were: "I should like to see Hiram Maxim."
While His Excellency was in London I used to
meet him nearly every day. I had many long con-
versations with him, and he paid me the great
compliment of saying that I understood Chinese
philosophy and religion much better than anyone
he had ever met who was not himself a Chinaman.

The correspondence that I had had with Chinese
officials, and my close friendship with some of their
representatives in England, enabled me to under-
stand exactly the position of affairs in China ; and
this stimulated me to investigate still further, and
thus add to the knowledge that I already possessed.

As I found that His Excellency did not understand
the true nature of the missionary propaganda in
England, I determined to submit sufficient data to
enable him to understand what had puzzled, not only
himself, but a great many other Chinamen, regarding
Europeans and their system of civilisation. I found
that it was very difficult for a Chinaman to under-
stand why there was such an immense difference
between the intellectual calibre of our scientific men

FOREWORD

and our engineers and that of the missionaries whom
we send to China. The Chinese were greatly puzzled
as to how it was possible for people who were able to
build locomotives and steamships to have a religion
based on a belief in devils, ghosts, impossible mira-
cles, and all the other absurdities and impossibilities
peculiar to the religion taught by the missionaries.

I found that a large number of intelligent Chinese
based their opinions of the English and Americans
on the specimens they had met in their own country,
teaching, as it seemed to them, a most preposterous
and immoral superstition ; and it was my aim, in
compiling for His Excellency a scrap-book with
explanatory notes, to put the Chinaman right in
this respect. I wished to show that we were not
all fools.

I was well aware of the enormous amount of harm
that had been caused in China by the missionaries,
whose mischievous propaganda had resulted in the
loss of millions of lives. I was also familiar with the
opinions of Chinese officials, and of their anxiety lest
the missionaries would cause some attack upon them
by the Christian nations of the West. In China
nearly all men of the official class are followers of
Confucius, and set the highest value upon the teachings
of that great philosopher. Among other very sensible
things which he taught was : " Never have anything
" to do with those who pretend to have dealings with
" the supernatural. If you allow supernaturalism to
" get a foothold in your country, the result will be a
"dreadful calamity." I felt it necessary to prove to

FOREWORD

His Excellency that the form of supernaturalism
which the missionaries were attempting to impose
upon his country was even more mischievous than
the simpler Asiatic forms, and I therefore compiled
for him a selection of passages, relating to Chris-
tianity, from writers of knowledge and authority. In
subsequent years I have more than once placed similar
accounts before my Chinese correspondents. The
English reader will probably find some interest in
the perusal of this collection of weighty verdicts on
the nature and historical records of Christianity in
Europe ; and, for the purpose of instruction and
contrast, I add a similar series of authoritative state-
ments as to the real character of the Chinese and the
work of the missionaries in China.

My interest in China and the missionaries began
some decades ago. In the early seventies, having
invented a new form of locomotive head-light, it was
necessary for me occasionally to visit Rochester, New
York, where a firm of lamp-makers was introducing
my new invention. I always stopped at a small hotel
near the station, and on the occasion of which I am
writing, the whole town being full of parsons and all
the hotels crowded, I was obliged to put up with a
bed on the drawing-room floor in company with
twenty-five or thirty parsons. The idea rather
pleased me than otherwise. Having been in the
train the whole of the previous night, I naturally felt
tired. I therefore went to bed early, and soon fell
asleep. At about ten o'clock I was awakened by the
arrival of the parsons. I do not know what particular

FOREWORD

brand of Christians they were, but I imagined that
they belonged to some hard-shelled Protestant variety.
They all seemed to be discussing foreign missions,
heathen lands, etc. The most noticeable figure was
a very good-looking man, well over six feet in height,
and about sixty-five years of age. He was an excel-
lent speaker, and I was very much interested in
listening to his conversation regarding foreign lands.
Finally, the conversation turned on China. This
gave the distinguished gentleman his opportunity,
and he talked steadily for fully half-an-hour about
that remarkable country and its people. He said
that there was a great deal of misapprehension in
America regarding the Chinese, and that many
Americans were led to believe that the Chinese were
little more than degraded and uncivilised barbarians.
However, after being in the country for many years
and learning to speak and write their language, he
felt himself in a position not only to dispute the
many statements that had been made to the discredit
of this great people, but also to defend them. The
Chinese were certainly no worse than other people.
He then went on to tell us much concerning the
history of China and the character of her people. He
said : " China is the oldest and most populous
" country in the world. Her form of civilisation is
" the only one that has stood the test of time.
" Babylon, Egypt, and the Roman Empire have all
" passed away. Of the old Empires, China alone
" remains. The United States, according to our way
" of thinking, is a vast and populous country ; but

FOREWORD

" China is still larger, and has a population about ten
"times as large as that of our great American
" Republic' In China about 35,000 babies are born,
" and about the same number of people die, every day ;
" the birth rate and the death rate being about equal.
"The Chinese are a very peaceful, law-abiding
" people. There is less crime in China than in any
" other country in the world, in proportion to the
" population. The people are very honest in their
" dealings, and their word is as good as their bond —
"they are, in fact, an excellent people. No people in
" the world are able to get so much out of the soil
" as the Chinese, their skill in this direction being
" simply incomparable. They are very tolerant in
" their ideas, and there has never been any religious
" persecution in China ; they do not interfere with
"anyone's religion, provided that the religion does
" not interfere with their institutions."

These statements seemed to astonish the majority
of the listeners. One parson, with a heavy black
beard and of pugilistic aspect, did not agree with the
speaker ; but, as he had never been to China and
knew nothing of the subject, it was hinted that he
should keep quiet.

The question then arose as to the prospects of con-
verting this great nation to Christianity — how to bring
them to Christ. The speaker said that it was a curious
fact, and one very difficult to understand, that the
only obstacle he had ever met with was apathy. The

' This was in 1872.

xiv FOREWORD

Chinese could not be made to take any interest what-
ever in religious teachings. You might talk to them
on any other subject in the world, and they would be
interested — especially if they thought you had any
information to impart which would enable them to
earn more money. The very instant, however, that
you turned the conversation in the direction of Chris-
tianity they yawned and quietly walked away. Every
possible means had been tried, and still they could
not be interested. It appeared to the speaker that
nothing less than the direct interposition of the Holy
Ghost would suffice to bring these perishing heathens
to their senses and save their souls from endless
torments.

Up to this point I had not uttered a word ; doubt-
less I was supposed to be a young parson, whom no
one recognised. Seeing my opportunity, I said that
I would like to ask the speaker a question. " You
" have told us what an excellent, law-abiding people
" the Chinese are ; you have told us of their honesty
"and incomparable skill in cultivating the soil. You
" have also told us that they have been a great nation
"for some thousands of years. Do you mean to say
" that all these excellent people, who are dying at the
" rate of 35,000 a day, are going into endless perdition
" because they do not believe our religion?"

The pugilistic parson very quickly responded. He
had any number of very forcible quotations from the
Bible to show most conclusively that every Chinaman
— in fact, everybody in the world who did not believe
as he did — would without doubt be tortured for all

FOREWORD

eternity in a fire-and-brimstone hell ; of that there
could be no question. Others said that the Chinese
had had an opportunity to believe and be saved, and
it was their own fault if they did not accept it.

I then asked what became of the souls of Chinamen
who had died long before the advent ot Christianity.
Would they, too, perish because they did not believe
in a religion that had no existence at the time? Then,
again, not one Chinaman in ten had ever heard of
Christianity. Would these be tortured for all eternity
because they did not believe in a religion of which
they had never heard ?

The principal speaker again took the floor, and
said : " Gentlemen, if I believed that all these excellent
" people, who never heard of Christianity, had gone
" into everlasting torment because they did not believe
" it, I would never preach another sermon in ray life.
" It is too dreadful. It cannot be true. I cannot believe
"that God, in his infinite mercy, would be so unjust."

But the pugilistic parson was on his feet in a second
with overwhelming Bible evidence to prove that all
these countless generations of Chinamen were being
roasted in fire and brimstone. However, the principal
speaker was too much for him ; his arguments were
strong. He proved that the Chinese had had no
opportunity of believing. Other nations required
miracles to make them believe, and the Chinese had
never been stimulated in that way ; evidently God,
for some inscrutable reason, had willed otherwise.
I think that all were converted to this way of thinking
except the pugilistic member of the party.

FOREWORD

I was given the opportunity of saying a few words
myself, so I asked some simple questions of the
principal speaker. I said : "You have told us that,
"before Christianity was introduced into China, the
"Chinese probably went to heaven, just as other
" people did — that is, good Chinamen went to heaven,
"and bad ones to the other place, exactly as in Chris-
" tian countries. It is true that they had never heard
" of Christianity, and could not be expected to believe
" in a religion of which they knew nothing. But
"how is it now? We have presented our beautiful
" religion to them ; and from some cause, either a
"fault in the religion itself or in the manner of pre-
" senting it, they take not the least interest in it, and
"consequently do not believe it. What will happen
" now to these honest and well-disposed Chinamen ?"

All agreed that, as the Gospel had been presented
to them, they had been given the opportunity to
believe, and had failed to do so, and that they were
now in the same category as other unbelievers, all of
whom must inevitably perish. To this I replied :
" Has it ever occurred to you, gentlemen, what a lot
" of grist you have been bringing to the Devil's mill ?
" Thirty-five thousand Chinamen dying every day, and
"everyone going direct to the lower regions, to be
"punished for all eternity in the lake of fire and
" brimstone ! Would it not have been infinitely better
" if we had kept away from them and let well enough
"alone?"

At this point there was a great uproar — in fact, a
perfect Bedlam. The pugilistic parson approached

FOREWORD

my bed with his clenched fist ; but when he saw
what a big, broad-shouldered man he had to deal
with he kept his distance. They called me an atheist
and an infidel, and every objectionable name that they
could think of, and wanted to know which Church I
represented. I replied that I was not a parson at all,
but simply a mechanical draughtsman.

The ease with which I discomfited this room full of
parsons, and the consciousness that I was in the
right, gave me confidence ; and shortly after this
occurrence I made a point of going very thoroughly
into history, philosophy, and religion, especially the
religion and philosophy of the East. I read every-
thing I could find, fully determined to make myself
able to meet all comers ; and I think I have succeeded.

My next contact with the missionaries was in the
summer of 1895. I was then invited to attend a
meeting that had been called in London for the
purpose of sympathising with the relatives of certain
missionaries who had been " atrociously murdered in
" China." I consented to be present, if I could have a
seat on the platform and be allowed to speak for
twenty minutes.' It was therefore announced in the
papers that I was to speak at this meeting. The
place was crowded, and the Chairman, in introducing
Mr. Austin, the principal speaker, said : " Notwith-
" standing the fact that I am an Englishman, I cannot
"agree with the sending of missionaries to China ; I

■ I attempted to stop at the end of twenty minutes, but was not
allowed to do so. I spoke for one hour and twenty minutes, and
also at an adjourned meeting the next evening.

A

xvlii FOREWORD

" think it is the greatest mistake in the world to do so.
"The Chinese themselves certainly ought to have
"something to say in the matter, as they are the
" party most interested ; and they, it would appear,
"do not approve of it. Only think of the absurdity
"of sending nineteen-year-old girls, completely un-
" acquainted with the ways of the world, to a country
" like China, to go out and preach on the street to an
"antagonistic and unsympathetic rabble, a strange
" religion in pigeon-Chinese, which must certainly
" sound very comical to the natives. To my mind,
"the whole system is wrong — in fact, I think I may
"say it is criminal, and should not be permitted for a
" moment. Mr. Maxim, whom we all know, and
" whose name is a household word, will follow the
" speakers and discuss the question from a Chinese
"standpoint."

Mr. Austin's address was too long to be reproduced
here. Suffice it to say that he gave a short history of
the Chinese nation. He admitted that it was a very
old form of civilisation— how old no one knew. He
had much to say about the numerous massacres of
Christians that had taken place in China ; and
referred, in particular, to Mr. Stewart, the English
missionary, and his nineteen-year-old girl assistants,
who had been " atrociously murdered " at some
obscure little place in China. He thought the whole
trouble was due to the action of the French Roman
Catholics. The Chinese, he said, looked upon all
foreigners as of the same class ; they could not dis-
criminate between the different kinds of Protestants

FOREWORD

and Catholics. If one was a European and a
Christian, they placed him in the same category with
the others. The French, he said, had induced many
of the rabble to be baptised ; and the rabble were not
unwilling to become Catholics, because it enabled
them to prey upon their fellow men without receiving
the usual punishment. In his opinion, there was
only one way out of the difficulty ; and that was to
banish every form of Christianity from China except
that particular kind in which he (Mr. Austin) believed.
Only recently the report had reached China and
done much harm that the Greek Catholics and the
Roman Catholics had, in the absence of the Mahom-
medan Guard, flown at each other at the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and a dreadful carnage had
followed. In referring to the recent Chinese mas-
sacre he said: "These poor missionaries, who had the
"good of the Chinese at heart, had been atrociously
" murdered simply because they had told the China-
" man the truth about his own religion."

Mr. Austin was followed by other speakers, who
defended the missionary and his work, and I was
then requested to speak.

I said that, as far as I could understand, a certain
number of English missionaries had penetrated into
some obscure and remote corner in China, where
they established themselves, built a little church,
and amused themselves by attacking the Chinese
system of religion and ethics. This went on for
about five years without the villagers taking the
least interest in the propaganda. Then some natives

FOREWORD

came down from the mountains, attacked the mis-
sionaries, killing some of them, and burnt their
church. I pointed out that exactly the same thing
would have happened if these missionaries had gone
to the west coast of Ireland, preached the same
doctrine, attacked the Roman Catholic Church, and
told the people that their ancestors had gone to hell
because they did not believe in the missionaries'
particular brand of religion. Still more surely would
this have been the case had they taken the Irishman's
wooden images, crosses, etc., out of the Catholic
churches and burnt them in the public square.'
The Irish, instead of allowing such conduct to go
on for five years as the Chinese had done, would
have killed the missionaries within five minutes.
One need not go to distant China to earn the martyr's
crown. All that one need do is to tell the Irishman
the truth about his religion.

I then asked Mr. Austin how he would like some
one to tell him the truth about his own religion ; how
he would like to go into a bar-room on the east side
of New York and tell the half-drunken Irish the
truth about their religion ; and I inquired if he had
ever known a religion that would stand the test of
truth. Turning then to an ecclesiastical fledgling
who had been shocked at seeing a god-factory in
China, I pointed out that there were plenty of god-
factories in Europe. I had seen one in Paris, where
very beautiful gods were made ; and another in

• There are wood-cuts in missionary books showing- the Christians
burning Buddhist gods.

FOREWORD

Spain, where all the Christian gods were manufac-
tured, the workmanship being finer than anything
I had seen in Paris ; and I added that there was a
shop near the Brompton Oratory where many Roman
Catholic gods were exposed for sale.

Some of the later speakers agreed with my remarks,
and we came to the resolution. Mr. Austin had
drawn up the following, which the Chairman put :
" This meeting wishes to express its sympathy with
" the relatives of the poor missionaries who have been
" so atrociously murdered in China for telling the
" Chinaman the truth about his own religion."

I then offered an amendment as follows : " This
" meeting regrets exceedingly that the English and
" Americans persist in sending missionaries to China
"to attack the ancient and orthodox faith of that
"country, and it strongly recommends that the
" missionaries should stay at home and allow the
" Chinese to enjoy their own religion, in their own
"country, in their own way." This was carried by
a large majority.

About the same time a letter appeared in a London
daily advising the English and Americans to join
and force the Chinese to pay an indemnity of 2,000,000
dollars for every missionary killed in their country.
If this had been carried out, and the Chinese had
received a right to a similar sum for every Chinaman
killed in Australia and the United States, the Chinese
would very soon have had money sufficient not only
to pay off all the indemnities demanded of them, but
enough would have remained to build and equip the

FOREWORD

largest fleet of ironclads that the world has ever
known.

The speech which I made was of considerable
length ; it was taken down in shorthand, and after-
wards transcribed. A copy of it was sent to the then
Chinese Minister, who greatly appreciated it. He
had it translated into Chinese, carefully engrossed
and bound, and sent to Li Hung Chang, who
delivered it to the Emperor. When Li Hung Chang
subsequently visited England he brought to me, from
the Emperor, the much-sought decoration of the
Double Dragon, which gives me a high rank in
China, and consequently a permanent and cordial
interest in its affairs. It is that interest which
impelled me to collect the passages relating to
Christianity which appear in this "Scrap-Book."

I have had but one object in compiling this book, and
that is to save human life and prevent human suffer-
ing. If this humble effort of mine saves one China-
man from being killed, one Chinese girl from being
outraged, one Chinese village from being looted and
burned, or prevents one misguided man or woman
of my own race from wasting his or her life in the
vain and foolish attempt to make the Chinaman
change the name of his religion, I shall be satisfied.
The reading of a book often sets people thinking,
and thinking is fatal to the kind of folly that I wish
to combat. One clever and sarcastic Frenchman did
more with his pen for human liberty to make life
worth living than any ten men ever did with the
sword. One brave American woman, while doing

FOREWORD

her own house-work with her babe at her breast,
wrote a book that thrilled the world and led to the
abolition of slavery in the great Republic.

A few years ago there was a Congress of Religions
at Chicago. Many said that such a thing would be
impossible. How could any understanding be arrived
at where each particular party was absolutely right
and all the others were completely in the wrong?
Still the Congress saved the American people more
than a million dollars a year, not to mention many
lives abroad. And this was all brought about by one
brave and honest man. When it was announced in
Calcutta that there was to be a Congress of religions
at Chicago, some of the rich merchants took the
Americans at their word, and sent them a Brahmin
monk. Viva Kananda, from the oldest monastery in
the world. This monk was of commanding presence
and vast learning, speaking English like a Webster.
The American Protestants, who vastly outnumbered
all others, imagined that they would have an easy task,
and commenced proceedings with the greatest confi-
dence, and with the air of " Just see me wipe you out."
However, what they had to say was the old common-
place twaddle that had been mouthed over and over
again in every little hamlet from Nova Scotia to Cali-
fornia. It interested no one, and no one noticed it.

When, however, Viva Kananda spoke, they saw
that they had a Napoleon to deal with. His first
speech was no less than a revelation. Every word
was eagerly taken down by the reporters, and tele-
graphed all over the country, where it appeared in

FOREWORD

thousands of papers. Viva Kananda became the
lion of the day. He soon had an immense following.
No hall could hold the people who flocked to hear
him lecture. They had been sending silly girls and
half-educated simpletons of men, and millions of
dollars, to Asia for years to convert the poor
benighted heathen and save his alleged soul ; and
here was a specimen of the unsaved who knew more
of philosophy and religion than all the parsons and
missionaries in the whole country. Religion was
presented in an agreeable light for the first time to
them. There was more in it than they had ever
dreamed ; argument was impossible. He played with
the parsons as a cat plays with a mouse. They were
in a state of consternation. What could they do?
What did they do? What they always do — they
denounced him as an agent of the devil. But the
deed was done ; he had sown the seed, and the
Americans commenced to think. They said to them-
selves : " Shall we waste our money in sending
" missionaries who know nothing of religion, as
" compared with this man, to teach such men as
"he? No!" And the missionary income fell off
more than a million dollars a year in consequence.

I have realised that good words, both printed and
spoken, often have a marked effect, and lead to
important and beneficial results. I am not a pro-
fessional writer, yet zeal often compensates in no
small degree for skill. I have therefore some hope
that I have been able to present the matter in such a
light as at least to call attention to the great injustices

(yCi/H^4t^^ zA i/f( ot^ci^^^i*^"—

FOREWORD

that have been and are being inflicted, in the name of
religion, on an immense number of innocent and
helpless people.

We are no longer children ; mystery and falsehood
are no longer necessary ; and I do not hesitate to say
that, if we were to take all our religious books, and
treat the myths, falsehoods, and interpolations in
them as the Russian Censors treat objectionable
articles in the English papers when they enter their
country, we should gain materially. I do not believe
that the welfare of nations depends on the teaching of
myths and fables to our children, and I do not believe
that it is right to tax our industries to teach anything
but correct and truthful ideas of the universe in which
we live. I do not recognise any difference between
the laws of God and the laws of Nature. If anyone
has a God whose laws differ from natural laws, that
God is a false god, just in so far as he is untrue to
nature. I believe that plain, naked truth, un-
adulterated with falsehood or myth, could be made
more attractive than the religion of the present
day. I see no reason why morality should not be
inculcated on scientific lines ; and I feel that, as the
nineteenth was the century of scientific investigation
and mechanical reform, brought about by some of
the most remarkable giants of intellect that the world
has ever known, so the present century will be a
century of religious and moral reform — a reform that
will be startling both in its range and influence.

H. S. M.

ERRATA

P. 36, line 30, /or "Vol. I, p. 383," read'^VoX. II, p. 383."

P. 85, line 5, /o;-" p. 58"?-ea(f"p. 68."

P. 106, line 3 1, yb?- " seek-seeking:" wac?" self-seeking."

P. 121, line 20, ybr " Vol. II, p. 3S7," read'^^VoX. I, p. 357."

P. 122, line 8,/o?- "Vol. II " read " Vol. I."

P. 123, line 23, for "Ibid., pp. 56-7," read "Ibid., Vol. II,

pp. 56-7."
P. 135, line 21, /or " give them" read "give him."
P. 144, line 29, for "pp. 455-56 and 456-57" read" pp.

451-56 and 456-57."
P. 159, line 23,/);- "p. 43" read " p. 134."
P. 183, line 33, /or " pp. 6-7 " read " pp. vi-vii."
P. 185, line I, /or "ideas quiet " read " ideas quite."
P. 188, line 21, /or"p. 19" read"p. 17."
P. 214, line 22, for "p. 532" read "p. 232.''
P. 220, line 8, /or pp. "74-5" read "pp. 174-75."
P. 244, line s,/or " p. 349 " read " p. 348."
P. 261, line i^,/'or"pp. 281-82" read " p. 280-82."
P. 279, line 15, after words "compels them to tolerate "

read " Ibid. , p. 306."

WORKS AND PUBLICATIONS QUOTED
FROM IN THIS COMPILATION.

(They are recommended to all who wish to make a study of
the subjects treated.)

The Warfare of Science with Theology. By Professor
Andrew D. White. (Macmillan and D. Appleton & Co.;
2IS. net.)

This remarkable work is in two large volumes. The author
is a professor of history, and was at one time American
Ambassador at Berlin. It deals very thoroughly with the
superstitions of the Middle Ages.

The History of the Intellectual Development of
Europe. By Professor John W. Draper. (Bell; 2 vols.,
5s. each.)

History of Civilisation in England. By Thomas
Henry Buckle. (Longmans ; 3 vols., los. 6d.)

The Rise of the Dutch Republic. By Motley. (Rout-
ledge ; 3s. 6d. Also Bell ; 3 vols., is. each.)

The author of this work was for a long time American
Ambassador at The Hague.

The Conflict between Science and Religion. By
Professor John W. Draper. (Kegan Paul ; 5s.)

This fine work is one of the International Scientific Series,
and has gone into many editions.

The Real Chinese Question. By Chester Holcombe.
(Methuen ; out of print.)

Chester Holcombe lived in China a great number of
years, speaking and writing the language ; and he was
the representative of the United States in that country both
as Charge d'Affairs and as Acting Minister. His work is of
considerable value.

The War of the Civilizations. By George Lynch.
(Longmans; out of print.)

The author is the well-known war correspondent, who

WORKS AND PUBLICATIONS QUOTED

was present at the invasion and sacking of Pekin. He
witnessed the robbery of Chinese houses and the selling of
loot by the missionaries, and he assures us that the conduc^
of the Christian troops was such that it cannot be described
in writing. Mr. Lynch expresses it ashisopinion that there
is a much better opening for missionaries in London than m
China.
China : Its Social, Political, and Religious Life.
By Eugene Simon. (Sampson, Low ; out of print.)
M. Eugene Simon was an engineer in the employ of
the French Government. He travelled in China for ten
years, and, being completely without religion, he was able
to tell the truth. The Chinese regard this work as the most
truthful of any to be found in Europe or America.

The Riddle of the Universe. By Professor Ernst
Haeckel. (Watts ; 4s. 6d. net.)

As Professor Haeckel occupies one of the foremost
positions in the scientific world at the present time,
nothing need be said in recommending his great work,
which now has a world-wide reputation.

The Chinese. By John Francis Davis. (Knight; 5s.)

Ingersoll's Works. Dresden Edition. (Watts ; twelve
vols., £6.)

Of incomparable value to all who are interested in
Freethought.

Chinese Sketches. By Herbert A. Giles. (Trubner ;
out of print.)

This work gives a very fair insight of life in China, and,
as the author was a British Consul long resident in China,
his statements may be implicitly relied upon.

Religion in China. By Joseph Edkins, D.D. (Kegan
Paul ; 7s. 6d.)

A Short History of Christianity. By J. M. Robertson.
(Watts ; 5s. net.)

This very clever work should be read by every student
of religion, as well as

Letters on Reasoning. By the Same Author. (Watts ;
3s. 6d. net.)

The Age of Reason. By Thomas Paine. (Watts; 6d.)

Thomas Paine was a Deist, and believed in only one God.

He is the author of the memorable saying : " The world is

WORKS AND PUBLICATIONS QUOTED xxix

my country, and to do good is my religion." An intel-
lectual giant of his time, he has been lied about more than
any other man that ever lived.

Through the Yang-Tse Gorges (ios. 6d. net), and
Gleanings from Fifty Years in China. Both by
Archibald Little. (Sampson, Low ; 5s. net.)
Two interesting and reliable works.

The New Far East. By Arthur Diosy, F.R.G.S.,
Member of China Society, London. (Cassell ; 3s. 6d.)
Will be found very instructive.

The Chinese Crisis from Within. By Wen Ching.
Edited by the Rev. G. M. Reith, M.A. (Grant
Richards.)

Contains a few gems of truth.

The Secret of the Pacific. By C. Reginald Enock,
F.R.G.S. (T. Fisher Unwin ; 12s. 6d. net.)

This book relates principally to the Pacific coast of South
America, and will be found of much value to students of
history.

The Peoples and Politics of the Far East. By Henry
Norman. (T. Fisher Unwin ; 7s. 6d. net,)

A History of China. By Harold E. Gorst. (Sands ; 6s. ;

nearly out of print.)
The Overland to China. By A. R. Colquhoun. (Harper

and Brothers ; i6s.)

A very interesting and instructive work.

A Chinese Appeal to Christendom. By Lin Shao-
Yang. (Watts ; 5s. net.)

Written by a scholar who understands his subject, and
handles the whole Chinese missionary problem in a scientific
and logical manner. A most excellent work.

China. By Major-General James Harrison Wilson. (D.

Appleton & Co.; 7s. 6d. net.)
The People of China. By. J. W. Robertson-Scott.

(Methuen ; out of print.)
Full of information.
China and Religion. By E. H. Parker, M.A. (John

Murray ; out of print.)

XXX WORKS AND PUBLICATIONS QUOTED

Chinese Characteristics. By Arthur H. Smith, twenty-
two years a missionary of the American Board in China.
(Kegan Paul ; out of print.)

An Australian in China. By G. E. Morrison. (Out of
print.)

Instructive, witty, and caustic.
Popular Astronomy. By Camilla Flammarion. (Chatto
and Windus ; los. 6d.)

In this popular work the author has shown how to
make scientific astronomy very attractive.

Brown Men and Women. By Edward Reeves. (Swan
Sonnenschein ; out of print.)

An exceptionally interesting work.

A Winter in North China. By Rev. T. M Morris.
(Religious Tract Society ; out of print.)

A Foreigner in China. By L. N. Wheeler, D.D.
(S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago.)

The Freethinker's Text-Book. By Annie Besant.

Memoires and Observations Made in a Late Journey
through the Empire of China. By Louis le Compte,
Jesuit, 1697.

The author of this work, although an extremely reli-
gious man, is honest enough to tell the truth about China,
which is very exceptional. He admits that God has favoured
that country quite as much as he has other countries, and
that the Chinese have long had a knowledge of the true
God.

Les Chinois Peints par Eux-Memes. By Col. Tcheng-
Ki-Tong. (Calmann Levy, Paris.)

An excellent work by a very clever Chinaman.

Ritual, Faith, and Morals. By F. H. Perrycoste.
(Watts ; 3s. 6d. net.)

The Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe. By
W. E. H. Lecky. (Watts ; is. 6d. net.)
A learned work by a very learned man.

Lectures on Some Points in the History of Indian
Buddhism. (Hibbert Lectures, 1881.) By T. W. Rhys
Davids. (Williams & Norgate ; 3s. 6d.)

WORKS AND PUBLICATIONS QUOTED xxxi

The Evolution of Christianity. By Charles Gill.
(Williams & Norgate ; out of print.)

The Bible Unveiled. By M. M. Mangasarian. (Inde-
pendent Religious Society, Chicago, U.S.A.)

Bits OF China. By General Tcheng-Ki-Tong. (Trischler.)

Conventional Lies of our Civilization.. By Max
Nordau. (Heinemann ; 6s.)

This excellent work is too well known to need any
recommendation.

China and the Present Crisis. By Joseph Walton, M.P.
(Sampson Low ; cloth, 6s.; paper cover, is.)

English Life in China. By Major Henry Knollys.
(Smith, Elder; 7s. 6d.)

This work is of great value, having been written by an
English official who does not hesitate to tell the truth.

The Martyrdom of Man. By Winwood Reade. (Kegan
Paul ; 5s. net.)

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. Edited by
Mark Twain. (Chatto and Windus ; 3s. 6d.)

This is a blood-curdling tale of the burning to death of the
most remarkable woman ever known on this planet.

Story of the Cheh-Kiang Mission. By Archdeacon
A. E. Moule. (Church Missionary Society; is. 6d.)

The Secret of the East. By Felic L. Oswald. (The
Truth Seeker Company, New York, U.S.A.)

Crimes of Christianity. By G. W. Foote and J. M.
Wheeler. (Progressive Publishing Co.)

The Bible Handbook. By G. W. Foote and W. P. Ball.
(Freethought Publishing Co.)

Foreign Missions. By C. Cohen. (Freethought Publish-
ing Co.)

Religion a Curse, Religion a Disease, Religion a
Lie. By Samuel P. Putnam. (Truth Seeker Co., New
York.)

R. P. A. Annual, 191 i. (Watts ; out of print.)

xxxii WORKS AND PUBLICATIONS QUOTED

Encyclopedia Britannica.

The History of the Devil. By Dr. Paul Carus. (Kegan
Paul ; 30s.)

Foxe's Book of Martyrs. (Morgan and Scott edition.)

Many of the above works are copyright. Permission,
however, has been obtained from the publishers and the
authors to use the quotations made throughout this volume,
for which kindness the compiler is very grateful.

SECTION I.

THE NATURE OF
CHRISTIANITY

INTRODUCTION

When His Excellency Li Hung Chang arrived in
London I lost no time in calling upon him at the
Chinese Embassy, 49 Portland Place. I was intro-
duced by my old friend Loh Fung Lu, Secretary of
Legation, who spoke English as well as the best of
us. After several long interviews, which generally
took place early in the morning, and after being with
His Excellency for a whole day in the country, I
could see that, notwithstanding his high education,
he failed to understand the peculiar state of affairs
that obtains in England and America in regard to
our missionaries, and how it happens that we inflict
them upon China. I, therefore, decided to explain
matters to His Excellency, and to prove to him that
we did not all approve of missionaries or believe the
absurd doctrines that they were attempting to teach
in China. In order to present the facts in the
strongest light, I prepared a very large scrap-book
containing extracts and clippings from a great
number of publications, with explanatory notes. In
one section of the scrap-book I explained to His
Excellency our system of lying, showing him the
high degree of development that this science had
reached in Europe and America, especially among
religious people. At the same time I pointed out
that the Chinese had advanced quite as far in this
science as we had ourselves, and that the falsehoods
circulated by them in China are quite as absurd as
any that our religious people circulate in this country

3

INTRODUCTION

about China. I thus proved conclusively that the
lying was mutual, and that this reckless disregard
of truth had caused a great deal of misapprehension
in both countries.

As the Chinese officials were exceedingly puzzled
in regard to our system of religion, not being able to
understand how a people so far advanced in civilisa-
tion could believe such an absurd superstition as
ours, I attempted to show that we were not all
superstitious ; that only a very limited number of our
people, and those of the illiterate and unthinking
class, believed in those forms of demonology which
were looked upon with contempt in China. I recog-
nised that Mr. Gladstone was an exception.' In
order that the origin of our religion might be under-
stood, I wrote the following short and concise sketch.
Commencing with the Creation, and following on
with the Fall of Man and the Atonement, I explained
that in Europe and America we were fast outgrowing
our ancient faith : —

"To His Excellency Li Hung Chang.

" I am aware of the fact that the thinking men of
" China, especially those of the official class, are
"greatly puzzled as to the reason why we persist in
"sending missionaries to China, where they are not
"wanted, to preach a doctrine which appears to the
" learned Chinese to be absurd, impossible, and
"immoral.

" England and America are what are known as
"free countries. The official and governing class
" depend upon votes — that is, the grace of the people
"at large — for their official positions. It is therefore
"necessary for them, if they wish to retain their

' Mr. Gladstone was a firm believer in the existence of devils.

INTRODUCTION

"places, to cater for every section of the public. In
" many cases the parties are so evenly balanced that
" only a small percentage of the votes is necessary
"to turn the scale in either direction ; therefore both
" parties and all officials are bound to cater for the
" missionary propaganda, at least in the sense of not
" interfering with it. It is safe to say that not more
"than one per cent, of our official class is in favour
"of sending missionaries abroad ; still, they dare not
"oppose it.

"There is a mistaken theory in England and
"America that the majority rule. This is by no
"means true. A great deal depends upon zeal and
" organisation. Certainly not over twenty-five per
"cent, of the voting population of England and
" America accept the Christian dogmas as articles of
"faith. As a rule, they have no faith; they depend
"altogether upon fact. Their feeling, as far as
" religion is concerned, may be described as apathy ;
"they take no interest whatsoever in religious affairs,
"and they do not govern in anything relating to
" religion, especially that branch that relates to
" missionaries. On the other hand, the twenty-five
" per cent, of believers, being organised and zealous,
"are able to force the majority into at least non-inter-
"ference with the missionary propaganda.

"Christianity, like all other religions, has been
"developed from exceedingly small beginnings ; that
" is to say, it is an outcome of growth, the greater part
"of it having been borrowed from very ancient forms
"of religion, which had their origin in Northern India
" and China. Christianity, as we know it to-day, was
" not formulated, as many people suppose, at Jeru-
"salem nearly 1,900 years ago, but at a much later
"date at Alexandria, Corinth, and Rome— at Rome

INTRODUCTION

"especially, where more has been done to develop the
"faith than at all the other centres of Christianity.
" It appears, however, that the early leaders of the
"Church at Rome were not inspired with any degree
"of originality. If we make a careful study of the
" subject, we shall find that nearly all the dogmas of
" Christianity which form a part of the Roman
" Catholic system were taken wholly from older
" faiths, and that nearly all of the ritual — the forms
"and ceremonies and various incantations — were
"adopted from what they are pleased to call, at the
"present time, Pagan beliefs."

The first grave objection that must be made to the
preaching of this Christian faith to the Chinese, as to
any other people, is that it consists of a series of
statements about the world and man which are
flagrantly inconsistent with modern knowledge, and
disdainfully rejected by most of the leaders of thought
in Europe. These statements are contained in the
Bible, and it is to the Bible that the more ignorant
of the Chinese are referred, as a supernatural revela-
tion which has been communicated to Christianity,
and to Christianity alone. Very few educated people
in England regard the Bible as a source of super-
natural enlightenment. Mr. Herbert Paul has re-
marked that the Bible has, in our time, been relegated
to the hands of savages and children. Even if this
were true, we should be bound to protest that children
and savages have as much right to the truth as
civilised adults ; but it is far from true. We are
sometimes told that when we criticise the statements
of the Bible we are flogging a dead horse. The
truth is that not only do missionaries offer the Bible
to highly civilised people like the Chinese, with an
assurance that it is the gospel of progressive Europe,

INTRODUCTION

but we officially impose its discredited statements on
all our school children in England. Millions of our
less educated adults are encouraged to believe these
statements literally, and even the alleged higher
scheme of Christian belief is directly based on them.

At the time of the so-called Reformation the
Roman Catholics, who had previously held Europe
completely at their mercy, asserted in the most
vehement manner that it would not do to enlighten
the people in regard to the evidence for the Christian
faith. " They must not be allowed to read the Bible."
They knew that that faith was founded on fable, and
would have the Bible sealed against the people. A
Pope, observing the immense amount of gold brought
to Rome from every part of Europe, had said : " And
" all this comes of that fable about the Virgin Mary
"and Jesus Christ.'" The Roman Catholic Church
has been described as the most perfect organisation
that the world has ever known. We might recall
that the tiger is about the finest physical organisation
in the world, the result of long ages of preying upon
other animals. So the Catholic Church has developed
an organisation eminently fitted for preying on igno-
rant people, and it felt that its work would be frus-
trated if the Bible were put in the hands of the
people.

The foresight of the Roman priests is only too mani-
fest when we reflect that Protestantism is a gloomy
and ignominious failure. It has been found impos-
sible to educate people and keep them in the Protestant
creed. Education is destructive of all religious belief,
and it has proved a difficult task to make a man just
wise enough not to be a Catholic, yet not too wise to

' At that time the Pope of Rome received four times as much of
the revenues of France as the King did.

8 INTRODUCTION

be a Protestant. The placing of the Bible in the
hands of the people led to the formation of hundreds
of warring sects, and a great stimulus was given to
investigation. In Germany, Holland, and England,
Protestantism took firm hold, and such abuses as the
belief in purgatory and the sale of relics (which still
disgraces the Catholic Church in Spain) were swept
away. From the earliest historical times there had
been an excellent moral tradition in Germany,
especially in regard to respect for women ; and the
immoral and corrupt practices of the priests and
monks were violently suppressed. In France, Italy,
and Spain the older Church retained its hold, and
the abuses continued ; but that very fact has led in
our time to a fresh and more radical religious revo-
lution.

France, which is to-day, in regard to religion,
the most advanced nation in the world outside
of China, has definitely abandoned its churches.
Hardly five million of the whole population, and
these are mostly women and children, practise any
religion whatsoever. Portugal has recently followed
her example, and the time is clearly not far distant
when Italy and Spain and the more progressive
of the South American Republics will throw off
the yoke of the Church. Protestantism, on the other
hand, has prolonged the life of religion in the more
intellectual parts of Europe ; but there are signs
that it, in turn, is decaying. It has been ascer-
tained that four-fifths of the immense population of
London do not attend church or chapel ; and the pro-
portion is even greater in Berlin. This is not sur-
prising in an age of general education. The people
can read for themselves how the more educated reject
the doctrines of Christianity, and they are rapidly

Bible Picture.

Gon Making the Sky.

Christian writers often describe God as " Tlie Great
"" Architect." Tliey point out tliat tlie crystalline dome
of the sky is all in one piece, without a crack, a seam, or
a blemish. The illustration shows God in the act of
making the sky. Professor Tyndall, in speaking of the
extreme fineness of the dust suspended in the upper
-atmosphere, and which forms our sky, said that he knew
he could produce just as good a sky as we have at the
present time with a cartload of material, and it might
be possible that he could do it with a vest pocket full.

Bible Picture.

Goil .IND His .^NGELS.

Showing God and his angels at the time of the
Creation.

To face p. 8.

INTRODUCTION

following the lead of our masters of science and
history.

When we reflect on the scheme of belief and
the plan of salvation which the Church officially
imposes, we easily understand this decay. The
original teaching of the Church, founded on the
Bible, was that the world was created out of nothing
in six days by some great Force, Power, or man-
like Being, and that until the time of creation
this Being, or God, had remained perfectly happy in
his eternal solitude — an infinite vacuum, infinitely
dark and infinitely cold. He knew all things, even
everything that would happen in the universe he
was about to create ; consequently, he knew per-
fectly well what would happen after creation.
Nevertheless, he made the world and its living
population, including Adam and Eve, whom he
placed in a beautiful garden. The woman was to
have whatever she wished in the garden, except the
fruit of a certain tree which was called the " Tree of
Knowledge." Womanlike, Eve was inquisitive, and
wished to taste the fruit. While in this mood the
Devil, whom God had in the meantime created,
appeared in the form of a serpent, and tempted her to
eat, and to give some of the fruit to Adam. Then, as
previously arranged, God entered into the garden in
anger, as a human proprietor might do, and damned
the man and the woman and their offspring to all
eternity for eating the forbidden fruit. He had made
the tree, made even the quality of inquisitiveness in
the woman, made the Devil and permitted him to
tempt, and knew what the result would be. He had,
in fact, planned the whole thing, just as an engineer
puts together the parts of a machine. Everything
worked as he knew it would, yet he was extremely

INTRODUCTION

indignant, and condemned mankind for all eternity,
although he had foreseen the result and planned it all
himself.

Mankind increased in numbers and wickedness.
In those days, it seems, it was no uncommon thing
for the sons of God, who lived in heaven, to descend
and beget children of the daughters of men ; and a
strange breed must have been added to the popula-
tion. As the wickedness increased, the anger of God
arose. He had known that this would happen, and
had formed a plan to drown the whole race. After
careful search, however, he found one family with
some degree of honesty, though the head of the family
was, it appears, addicted to drink. He directed this
man Noah to build an ark, or large boat, as large as
the biggest boats of modern times. It was amply
provisioned, and on the appointed day the animals
flocked to it, in dignified couples, from every quarter
of the globe, and occupied their respective state-rooms.
There are in some of the old Dutch Bibles complete
plans of the ark, showing the apartments of Noah and
his family, the kitchen, the stores, and so on. It then
began to rain as it had never rained before, and, after
forty days and nights of continuous downpour, the
ark floated above the tops of the highest mountains.'
Where the water came from we are not told ; but God
could, of course, make something out of nothing. At
length, however, the waters subsided ; and Noah,
whose boat was now on the summit of Mount Ararat,
issued from his prison and celebrated the event by

' In the first French EncyclopEedia we find: "The flood was
universal, and extended all over the earth and above the tops of the
highest mountains." In the second edition it said : " The flood was
not universal, and did not extend all over the earth." In the third
edition: "The flood was very limited in its extent.'' And in the
fourth edition : "There was no flood."

Bible Picture.

God Introduces Adam and Eve to the Animals.

God first created the world, then the various kinds of
trees, shrubs, fruits, and animals. These were all pre-
sented to Adam ; but both Adam and Eve were for-
bidden to eat the fruit of a certain tree, said to be an
apple-tree.

Bible Pietupe.

Temptation— THE Apple and the Talking Snake.

In the meantime God had made the Devil, who took
the form of a snake. The snake, in carrying out his
part of the programme, persuaded the woman to pluck
and try one of the apples. She did so, and gave Adam
a piece. Each performed the part tliat had been
allotted to them by God.

To face p, TO.

INTRODUCTION

getting drunk ; and this established a precedent for
celebrating great events which has been strictly-
adhered to among Christian nations from that day to
this. However, while Noah was in a state of insen-
sibility his robes became disarranged, and his son
Ham looked upon him in his exposed condition. For
this offence Ham was cursed. He was sent to the
land of Canaan, and ultimately became the ancestor
of the negro race.

The other children of Noah went into various parts
of Asia Minor, and the world was soon again populated
with men and beasts. Again God's people increased
in wickedness, and excited his wrath. It appears,
however, that he presently found a man named
Moses, living in bondage to the Egyptians, and far
lower in culture than they. The Egyptians were a
mild-mannered, inoffensive race, with high moral
ideals and a great literature, while Moses and his
fellow-bondsmen were Jews. The Egyptians were
at last anxious to be rid of them ; and Moses and
his followers, borrowing or annexing all the property
they could lay hands on, left the land. God made
a passage for them through the Red Sea, but caused
the waters to fall upon the pursuing Egyptians, whose
goods they had taken.

In the meantime the Israelites, otherwise the Jews,
had constructed a box which they called " the ark of
the Covenant"; and ultimately Jehovah, the god of
the Jews, came down to reside in this box among his
"chosen people," and gave them great aid in their
innumerable quarrels and wars. On one occasion, it
is true, they were defeated, and the ark, in which
God dwelt, fell into the hands of another and equally
superstitious tribe, who believed that they could
appropriate the success of the Israelites by appro-

INTRODUCTION

priating their god-box. When they opened it, how-
ever, they found only a stone " phallus," a religious
emblem exactly like those that were very common in
Egypt at that time ; and, having no use for it, they
returned it to the Israelites. When, at a later date,
the Israelites themselves peeped into the secret box
and discovered its contents, God slew " fifty thousand
and three score and ten " of them (i Sam. vi, 19).
Usually, however, God worked wonders on behalf of
his people. Once, when the night threatened to fall
before they had killed all the men of a neighbouring
tribe, God, in his infinite kindness and loving mercy,
stopped the sun in its course, prolonging the day
until the slaughter was complete. On another
occasion the Israelites were enabled to destroy the
mighty walls of a great city by blowing rams' horns,
and they put all the inhabitants to death except the
young females, who were reserved for the soldiers.
In some cases, as will be shown in the quotations
which I shall give, the virgins who were captured
were divided between the Church, the Army, and
God. On one occasion, when there were thirty-two
thousand of such captives, the Bible tells us that
"God's share was thirty-two." Can anything worse
than this be found among the lowest barbarians ?

Of the gods of rival tribes Jehovah was very
"jealous," and the most ruthless laws were passed
to prevent the Israelites from worshipping them. If
a daughter or wife of an Israelite were to press him
to change his religion, he was commanded to kill
her on the spot (Deut. xiii, 6-9) : —

" If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy
"son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom,
" or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice
"thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other

Bible Picture.

God Visirs the Garden of Eden.

As soon as God had ascertained that the Devil had
succeeded, and the woman had plucked the fruit as he
(God) had intended she should do, he returned to the
garden and cursed the world to all eternity because the
woman had plucked the apple exactly as he had arranged
it.

Bible Picture.

Eviction of Adam and Eve by an Angel.

Adam and Eve, having sinned grievously by eating
an apple, are expelled from the garden of Eden by an
angel with a flaming sword.

These are the kind of stories that the learned and
intellectual Chinese are expected to believe ! ! !

To f.ice p. .

fflffW'/'""'"

INTRODUCTION 13

" gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy
" fathers ;

"Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken
"unto him ; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither
"shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him :

" But thou shalt surely kill him ; thine hand
"shall be first upon him to put him to death, and
"afterwards the hand of all the people."

The world, however, clung to its wickedness, and
God resolved to become man and be born of a virgin,
without a human father. When this man-god was
about thirty years of age he commenced to teach.
Much of his doctrine — as, " Do unto others as you
would that others should do unto you " — was admir-
able, though not original ; but the story of his life is
so encrusted with miracle, as the admittedly false
lives of other great religious teachers are, that it is
difficult to read the gospels with any degree of con-
fidence. It is, at all events, alleged that he taught
men to seek salvation without the mediation of the
priests, and they conspired to kill him. God had,
unfortunately, not repealed the laws of Deuteronomy ;
and the priests were bound to enforce them, and slay
one who differed from them in regard to religion.

It was afterwards discovered that all this had been
pre-arranged by God ; that he had, in fact, been born
of a virgin expressly for the purpose of being put to
death by the Jews. His purpose was to propitiate
himself, to make an atoning sacrifice to himself for
the sins of the people. By this ingenious arrange-
ment he was wholly appeased, and henceforward all
that one had to do to secure salvation was to believe
in Jesus Christ. Morality was of little account. Sin
had been expiated by the blood of the Saviour, and
one had merely to believe and to support the priests.

14 INTRODUCTION

It was a doctrine that was not calculated, as we shall
see later, to improve the morals of Europe.

This is the simple outline of the Christian scheme
of salvation, as it is contained in what is still described
as "the word of God," as it is taught to children in
all the schools of the country and to non-Christian
peoples all over the world, as it is literally believed
by millions of men and women in England, and as it
is endorsed in the official teaching of the Church,
Confucianism, the great religion of China, has nothing
to fear from this childlike compilation of ancient
dogmas. It is little use objecting that educated
Christians have gone so far as to explain away — in plain
language, to deny the truth of — the earlier and more
ridiculous part of this story of human destiny. It
remains true that this more liberal Christianity is not
the teaching of the Church or of the State school, nor
of the missionaries. Indeed, the message of the New
Testament, the distinctive element of the Christian
scheme, is essentially based on the childish story of
the Creation and the Fall. It is, therefore, still incum-
bent upon us to protest against this crude and primi-
tive story conceived by man in the childhood of the
race, and to see how the teachings of modern science
are totally opposed to it. It is hardly necessary to
quote at any length the passages of the Bible which
justify the heavy strictures of those who resent the
imposing of it on children and non-Christian peoples.
Consider the spirit which reveals itself in the follow-
ing quotations from the Old Testament : —

" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Avenge

"the children of Israel of the Midianites and they

"slew all the males And the children of Israel took

"all the women of Midian captives, and their little
"ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all

Bible Picture.

The Flood.

About two thousand years after the Creation, or, say,
four thousand years ago, the world had become so
wicked that God found it expedient to exterminate the
whole population, with the single exception of one
family. It rained forty days and forty nights, until the
waters rose above the tops of the highest mountains,
which would mean about five times as much water as
there is in the world at the present time.

This is a story that our missionaries expect the
Chinese to believe ; but it is extremely difficult, because
the Chinese records demonstrate that there was no flood
in China.

To face p. 14.

INTRODUCTION 15

"their flocks, and all their goods. And they burnt
"all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their
"goodly castles, with fire. And they took all the
"spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.

" And Moses was wroth And Moses said unto

"them. Have ye saved all the women alive? Now

"therefore kill every male among the little ones, and
"kill every woman that hath known man by lying
"with him. But all the women children, that have
" not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for
"yourselves" (Num. xxxi, 1-18).

" And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because
"they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he
"smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore
"and ten men : and the people lamented, because the
" Lord had smitten many of the people with a great
"slaughter" (i Sam. vi, 19).

"And it came to pass in an eveningtide that David
"arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of
"the king's house : and from the roof he saw a woman
"washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful

"to look upon And David sent messengers, and

" took her ; and she came in unto him, and he lay with
"her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and

"she returned unto her house And it came to pass

" in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab,
"and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in
"the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of
"the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he
"may be smitten, and die" (2 Sam. xi, 2, 4, 14, 15).'

Colonel Ingersoll quotes the thirty-first chapter of
Numbers, where we learn how the Midianites were
slain. "You will find," he says, "that the children

' David was " a man after God's own heart.''

i6 INTRODUCTION

"of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and
"their 'little ones'; that they took 'all their cattle,'
"and 'all their flocks, and all their goods '; that they
"slew all the males, and burnt all their cities and
"castles with fire ; that they brought the captives and
" the prey and the spoil unto Moses and Eleazar the
" priest ; that Moses was wroth with the officers of his
" host because they had saved all the women alive,
"and thereupon this order was given: 'Kill every
" ' male among the little ones, and kill every woman

"' but all the women children keep alive for

" 'yourselves.'

"After this God himself spake unto Moses, and
"said: 'Take the sum of the prey that was taken,
" ' both of man and of beast, thou and Eleazar the

" ' priest and divide the prey into two parts, between

" ' those who went to war, and between all the congre-
" ' gation, and levy a tribute unto the Lord, one soul
" ' of five hundred of the persons, and the cattle ; take
" ' it of their half and give it to the priest for an offer-

" ' ing and of the children of Israel's half, take one

" ' portion of fifty of the persons and the animals and

" 'give them unto the Levites And Moses and the

" ' priest did as the Lord had commanded.' It seems
" that they had taken six hundred and seventy-five
" thousand sheep, seventy-two thousand beeves, sixty-
" one thousand asses, and thirty-two thousand women,
" children, and maidens. And it seems, by the fortieth
" verse, that the Lord^s tribute of the maidens was
" thirty-two — the rest were given to the soldiers and
"to the congregation of the Lord" (IngersoU's
Works, Vol. V, pp. 231-32).

Mr. M. Mangasarian {The Bible Unveiled) brings
out another side of the crude feeling of the Old Testa-
ment. He says (p. 133) : —

Bible Picture.

Loading up the \"[rc;ixs.

In the glorious old days, when God practically lived
and associated with his chosen peopk-, he ordered them
to destroy the neighbouring tribes, as will be seen by
thefollowing: "And they warred against the Midianiles
" as the Lord commanded Moses ; and they slew all Ihe
" males " (Numbers xxxi, 7). " Now therefore kill every
" male ainong the little ones, and kill every woman that
" hath known a man by lying with him ; but all of the
" women, children, that have not known a man by lying
" with him,- keep alive for yourselves " (Numbers xxxi,
17-18). The only persons kept alive were the virgins,
and these, together with the sheep, beeves, and asses,
constituted " the prey " which was to be divided between
the Army, the Church, and God. " And the persons
"were sixteen thousand, of vi'hich the Lord's tribute
"was thirty and two persons " (Numbers xxxi, 40). The
illustration shows the captured virgins being loaded on
to camels to be taken to headquarters

To face p. 16-

INTRODUCTION 17

"The object of human and animal sacrifices in the
" Bible, as in all the older religions, was to placate
" the deity. The Jews would not have offered
"Jehovah the flesh of man and beast, did they not
"believe that their God was not only exceedingly
" fond of roast meats, but that this was the only way
"to secure any favours from him. When an oriental
"desired a favour of his king or chieftain, he
" approached him with many gifts, as well as with
" prostrations and compliments. The way to be ad-
" mitted to an audience with Jehovah was to praise him
"loudly, and to offer him the best part of the spoils."

Nor is this crude moral tone entirely confined to
the Old Testament. Who can seriously approve
such sentiments as the following, which are attributed
to Christ in the Gospels ? —

" Think not that I am come to send peace on
" earth ; I came not to send peace, but a sword "
(Matt. X, 34).

" I am come to send fire on the earth ; and what

"will I, if it be already kindled? Suppose ye that

" I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell you,
" Nay ; but rather division ; for from henceforth
"there shall be five in one house divided, three
"against two, and two against three. The father
"shall be divided against the son, and the son
"against the father ; the mother against the daughter,
"and the daughter against the mother; the mother-
" in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the
"daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law " (Luke

xii, 49-53)-

" If any man come to me, and hate not his father,
" and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren,
"and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be
" my disciple " (Luke xiv, 26).

c

i8 INTRODUCTION

And wherever we turn, in the New Testament as
in the Old, we find the same absurdities and impos-
sibilities. Let us take two examples from IngersoU :—

" ' Verily, verily, I say unto you : He that be-
" ' lieveth on me, the works that I do shall he do also ;
" ' and greater works than these shall he do, because
" ' I go unto my Father.'

" I am willing to accept that as a true test of a
"believer. If Mr. Talmage really believes in Jesus
" Christ, he ought to be able to do at least as great
" miracles as Christ is said to have done. Will Mr.
" Talmage have the kindness to read the fourteenth
" chapter of John, and then give me some proof, in
" accordance with that chapter, that he is a believer
"in Jesus Christ? Will he have the kindness to
"perform a miracle? — for instance, produce a 'local
" ' flood,' make a worm to smite a gourd, or ' prepare
"'afish'? Can he do anything of that nature? Can
" he even cause a ' vehement east wind ' ? What evi-
" dence, according to the Bible, can Mr. Talmage give
" of his belief ? How does he prove that he is a Chris-
"tian?" (Vol. V, pp. 157-58).

" How is it possible to prove that the Holy Ghost
"was the father of Christ? The Holy Ghost said
" nothing on the subject. Mary wrote nothing, and
" we have no evidence that Joseph had a dream.

"The divinity of Christ rests upon a dream that
" somebody said Joseph had.

"According to the New Testament, Mary herself
" called Joseph the father of Christ. She told Christ
" that Joseph, his father, had been looking for him.
" Her statement is better evidence than Joseph's
" dream — if he really had it. If there are legends in
" Holy Scripture, as Professor Briggs declares,
" certainly the divine parentage of Christ is one of

Bible Picture.

Burning a Calf to Plkase God.

In the old Bible times, before the advent of Chris-
tianity, the people used to make innumerable burnt-
offerings as a sacrifice to their God. If they wanted a
favoLir, or wished to appease his wrath, they made a
sacrifice, generally consisting of a sheep or a goat ; or
on great occasions it might be a calf or even a full-
grown bull, the latter being considered sufficient to
obtain God's aid in exterminating a neighbouring tribe.
The animals were generally killed before being burnt.
Under the new dispensation, the Christians, having
taken over and adopted the tribal deity of the Jews,
abandoned the old practice of sacrificing dead animals,
and instead made numerous burnt-offerings of living
human beings. Hundreds of thousands of living men
and women were thus sacrificed for the greater honour
and glory of the Christian God, it being an article of
faith of the Christians that there can be no remission
of sins without the shedding of blood.

Does this system appeal to the intelligence of the
Chinese ?

To face p. j8.

INTRODUCTION 19

" them. The story lacks even originality. Among
"the Greeks many persons had gods for fathers.
" Among Hindoos and Egyptians these god-men were
" common. So in many other countries the blood of
"gods was in the veins of men. Such wonders told
"in Sanscrit are just as reasonable as when told in
" Hebrew ; just as reasonable in India as in Palestine.
" Of course, there is no evidence that any human
" being had a god for a father, or a goddess for a
"mother. Intelligent people have outgrown these
" myths. Centaurs, satyrs, nymphs, and god-men
" have faded away. Science murdered them all "
(Vol. XII, pp. 309-10).

However the apologist may twist and interpret
such passages as these, it remains true that the
Biblical story of the world and man is, even on broad
lines, as far removed as possible from the truth. No
matter how much the Hebrew text of Genesis may be
forced into modern meanings, and in spite of the
claim that God accommodated his early revelation to
the intelligence of a primitive people (though Egypt
and Babylon were then highly civilised), the Biblical
story is utterly indefensible. It is not an accom-
modation of the truth to childlike minds. A modern
teacher of science can easily convey the truth about
the origin of the world and man to very young
children. The truth is that the Biblical story is a
crude and mildly speculative and childish guess, based
upon the speculations of the Babylonian priests ; and
it has no relation whatever to the teaching of modern
science and history. We have seen Avhat the Biblical
version is ; now let us contrast the truth as it is
revealed in modern science.

THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE

Some thousands of millions of years ago two very
large and probably dark bodies came within each
other's sphere of attraction. They were drawn
together by an invisible and immaterial agency, and
commenced to approach each other slowly at first,
the velocity increasing for perhaps a thousand years.
The energy developed by the pull of these two bodies
was converted into momentum or vis-inertia — that is,
the dynamic energy in a moving mass, energy being
in proportion to the square of the velocity. It is the
energy stored in these two enormously large bodies
when they were approaching each other that generated
all the heat in our sun, and not only the movement of
the earth and all the other planets, but also all forms
of energy, such as heat, light, and electricity — in
fact, everything that moves in this solar system does
so at the expense of the original energy generated.
This energy was the power employed to produce all
the phenomena that we witness on this planet.

By the time that these two bodies had approached
within a hundred miles of each other they would have
a velocity of from thirty to forty miles per second in
relation to space, though in relation to each other
they would approach with a velocity of about seventy-
five miles per second.'

Let us now consider what this means. The high-
power military rifle gives to a light projectile a

■ Some writers place the velocity at fully double, which would
mean four times the energy.

THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE

velocity of 2,000 feet a second, and this velocity is
sufficient to reduce the projectile to a fine grey powder
when it strikes a piece of hardened steel. As the
dynamic energy in a moving body is not in direct
proportion to its velocity, but as the square of its
velocity, it follows that the energy in each particular
ounce represented in the two spheres must have been
many times greater than in a corresponding weight
of a moving projectile travelling at a velocity of 2,000
feet per second — in fact, each ounce of the two great
spheres would be endowed with 39,204 times as much
energy as we find in the same weight of a moving
projectile. When we consider the enormous mass
that was required to produce this solar system, we can
imagine what the sum-total of this enormous energy
must have been. The energy that we have been
drawing upon unceasingly for at least a thousand
millions of years, and of which we still have enough
left to make the world go round and run all of our
steamships, locomotives, motor-cars, etc., etc. — in fact,
every bit of heat, light, and electricity that we enjoy
to-day, is derived from this single source. The
energy that enables me to think and write these lines
is derived from this original source. Even the lies
that will be told of me by pious bigots after I am dead
will be derived from energy drawn from the same
storehouse. There would be no motion of anything,
no matter how small on this earth, if this supply of
original energy should become exhausted. The sun
is the reservoir where this energy is now stored in the
form of heat, and not a few of mankind have wor-
shipped this reservoir. It is doubtful, however, if the
worship did the reservoir any good.

The result of the collision that took place was to
produce a vast cloud of incandescent gas. A new

THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE

system had been born— Novo in the Milky Way.
As the two bodies did not strike square on, since
they were not both travelling on the same line, at the
instant of contact, it follows that the blow struck not
only produced an enormously high temperature, but
at the same time it set the whole mass rotating at a
high velocity. This mass would not be spherical,
but more the shape of a lozenge. We not only know
this from the laws of dynamics, but the telescope
reveals many nebulae which have thus been formed,
and which will ultimately become systems like our own.

When our own vast nebula had been rotating in
space for some millions of years, a nucleus was formed
in its centre. A new sun was born, and gradually
rings were formed around it — something like the
rings of Saturn ; and the substance in these rings
gradually collected into planets. Most of the planets
had rings which were afterwards formed into satel-
lites ; our moon is one of these. The drag of the
planets on the sun probably slowed his rotation
slightly, at the same time increasing the orbital
velocity of the planets in a corresponding degree ;
and the velocity, according to the laws of dynamics,
would increase the diameter of the orbit, and cause
the planets to move farther away from the sun.

Our little earth is one of these planets — by no
means the largest, but the one most suitable for
animal life. At first our earth was surrounded by a
vast cloud of aqueous vapours and carbonic acid gas,
and the pressure of these gases upon the surface of
the earth would probably be about one and a half
tons to the square inch — perhaps more. The surface
of the earth at that time would present the appearance
of a red-hot cinder, and would be very much like
melted glass ; but, on account of the large quantity

THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE 23

of iron, it would have a specific gravity considerably
greater than that of melted glass. This state of
affairs would continue for some millions of years, the
temperature constantly falling owing to the radiation
of heat into space. Finally, the time arrived when
the aqueous vapours commenced to condense and fall
on to the red-hot surface of the earth. The fall would
be very slow at first ; but ultimately a time would be
reached when the downpour of water upon the hot
earth would be immense — far beyond our imagination.
This waterfall would continually increase ; and its
cooling effect on the earth would cause the sphere,
which had formerly been like a big globule of melted
glass, to crack and splinter. When half of the sea
was in the air and the other half on the surface of the
earth, our poor little earth boiled at a very high
temperature — a temperature hot enough to melt zinc
— during SQme millions of years ; and thus the red-
hot cinder was converted into earth.

The next stage was that practically all of the water
fell upon the earth. Thus our seas were formed,
though not where they are at the present time. But
it would take too much space for me to give even an
outline of the events that followed. Suffice it to say
that after millions of years a low order of vegetation
made its appearance, to be followed by a very low
order of animal life.

It is not known whether the first germs of life were
brought to this earth by meteoric dust, or whether
there was a spontaneous generation of life on this
planet. The old Chinese philosophers, however,
were of the opinion that all matter was endowed with
the principle of life, and that it required only a favour-
able condition of matter in order that life could mani-
fest itself.

24 THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE

Professor John Draper, one of the cleverest scien-
tists that Anaerica has ever produced, in speaking of
Gotama, the founder of the Buddhist system of reli-
gion, says : —

"The prophetic foresight of the great founder of
" this system was justified by its prodigious, its
" unparalleled, and enduring success — a success that
" rested on the assertion of the dogma of the absolute
"equality of all men, and this in a country that for
"ages had been oppressed by castes. If the Buddhist
" admits the existence of God, it is not as a Creator,
" for matter is equally eternal ; and since it possesses
"a property of inherent organisation, even if the
" universe should perish, this quality would quickly
" restore it, and carry it on to new regenerations
" and new decays without any external agency. It is
" also endued with intelligence and consciousness "
{History of the Intellectual Development of Europe,
Vol. I, p. 66).

Gotama taught that there was a succession of
universes, formed in a perfectly orderly manner,
according to primordial law, and emerging one after
another in inconceivable periods of time. He did not
give a personality or an individuality to the force that
wrought all these changes of creation and extinction.
When asked what becomes of the soul of a man when
he dies, the reply was : " What becomes of the flames
" of a lamp when it is blown out? What becomes of
"a drop of water when it falls into the sea?" He
taught that the vital flame of life is handed down
from one generation to another. It is communicated
from one animated form to another. He did not
recognise any vicarious action. " Each one must
"work out for himself his own salvation, remem-
"bering that death is not necessarily a deliverance

THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE

"from worldly ills. It may be only a passage to
" new miseries. Yet, as the light of a taper must
"come at last to an end, so there is at length, though
" it may be after many transmigrations, an end of
"life."

Such were his doctrines of a supreme force, and of
the origin and progress of the visible world ; and
with like ability he deals with his inquiry into the
nature of man.

Our little world, our sun, which has a diameter one
hundred times as great as that of the earth, and con-
sequently a million times the volume, is only a speck
of cosmic dust as compared with the vast universe of
which we form a part. It is impossible for us to con-
ceive the magnitude of the universe, the number of
suns and systems, and the enormous space which
intervenes between them. Flammarion, the great
French astronomer, tells us that we are right in the
centre of the starry universe ; that if we were to leave
this planet and travel in a straight line, with the
velocity of light, 186,000 miles a second, and maintain
this speed for a million years, we should still be in
the centre of the starry universe. In this million
years, however, we should have passed innumerable
suns and planetary systems, many of them inhabited.
But he is not satisfied with the first million years.

"Again a million years," he says; "new revela-
"tions, new starry splendours, new universes, new
"worlds, new earths, new humanities! What!
" Never an end, no vault, never a sky which stops
" us, for ever space, for ever the void ! Where, then,
"are we? What road have we surveyed? We are
" at the vestibule of the infinite. We are always at
"the same point. The centre is everywhere, the
"circumference nowhere. Yes, see opened before

26 THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE

" us the infinite, of which the study is not yet begun.
" We have seen nothing. We recoil in terror, we
"fall back astounded, incapable of continuing a
" useless career. Well, we might fall — fall in a
"straight line into the yawning abyss, fall for ever

"during a whole eternity In whatever way we

"look at the universe, it is infinite in all directions.
" In this infinitude the associations of suns and of
"worlds which constitute our visible universe form
" but an island of a great archipelago ; and in the
"eternity of duration the life of our proud humanity,
" with all its religious and political history, the whole
"life of our entire planet, is but the dream of a
"moment."

If we imagine a limit to space, we must ask our-
selves. What can be the nature of the limit? Of
what is it composed? How far does it extend?
And so on.

Flammarion might have gone still further in his
reasoning, and taken us out a thousand million
years ; yet we should have been no nearer to the
limit of the universe. The telescope reveals at least
a thousand million suns ; yet these are not even a
small fraction of the whole. Matter and space have
always existed ; there was no beginning, and there
will be no end.

But it is not only a material universe. There is a
certain imponderable power of force, strong enough
to mould the hardest of materials into form. We
might call it the life, the soul, the mind, or the spirit
of the universe. It is, in fact, this immaterial force
which governs and controls the material universe,
and is the source of all the phenomena with which we
are acquainted. The ancient Chinese endowed this
force with consciousness and intelligence. To us it

THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE 27

is known as gravitation, or tiie force which causes
the apparent attraction of bodies to each other. It is
probably a property of the ether which underlies and
fills the material universe.

To those who wish to know more of this subject I
would recommend Sir Robert Ball's The World's
Beginning. It is written in very simple language,
which anyone can understand. I should advise those
who wish to advance still further to read The Story of
Evolution^ by Joseph McCabe, or The Origin of Species
and The Descent of Man, by Darwin.

Suns and systems like our own are constantly being
formed. Many systems in the making can be seen
by our astronomers ; and they have many photo-
graphs of nebula, the most noticeable being the
great nebula of Orion. To my mind, the most
instructive is the great spiral nebula ; the nebulae
which are presented to our view edge-wise, or
partially so, are especially instructive.

When we contemplate the enormous magnitude of
the universe, the countless millions of suns which are
centres of systems like our own ; when we appre-
ciate that some of these suns are larger than our
own, perhaps a thousand times larger, and begin to
have a faint idea of what the universe is and our
relation to it, how can we stoop to Jehovah, the
wicked little tribal deity of the Jews, who did not
know that there was another side to the world, and
torture our kind into believing that this little ignorant
deity brought all this vast universe into existence in
the way one takes a snapshot photograph ? According
to the latest version of Genesis, " He spake, and it
was done."

CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM

So much for the doctrine which the Christian Bible
brought into the enlightened Roman Empire, and
which modern science has shown to be childishly
untrue. We have next to see how this primitive
religion of the Bible gathered up the rites and
practices of the pagan religions of the Empire, and
became the Church of the early Middle Ages. Pro-
fessor John Draper has some fine pages on this
subject in his History of the Conflict between Religion
and Science : —

" When the Empire in a military and political
"sense had reached its culmination, it had attained
"its height of immorality in a religious and social
"aspect. It had become thoroughly epicurean; its
" maxim was that life should be made a feast, that
"virtue is only the seasoning of pleasure, and
"temperance the means of prolonging it. Dining-
" rooms glittering with gold and incrusted with gems,
"slaves in superb apparel, the fascinations of female
"society where all the women were dissolute, magni-
"ficent baths, theatres, gladiators — such were the
" objects of Roman desire. The conquerors of the
" world had discovered that the only thing worth
"worshipping is Force. By it all things might be
"secured, all that toil and trade had laboriously
" obtained. The confiscation of goods and lands,
" the taxation of provinces, were the reward of
"successful warfare; and the Emperor was the
" symbol of force " (p. 36).

28

CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM i()

"Let us pause here a moment, and see, in antici-
"pation, to what a depth of intellectual degradation
" this policy of paganisation eventually led. Heathen
" rites were adopted ; a pompous and splendid ritual,
"gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax tapers, pro-
"cessional services, lustrations, gold and silver vases,
"were introduced. The Roman lituus, the chief
" ensign of the augurs, became the crozier. Churches
"were built over the tombs of martyrs, and conse-
" crated with rites borrowed from the ancient laws
" of the Roman pontiffs. Festivals and commemora-
"tions of martyrs multiplied with the numberless
"fictitious discoveries of their remains. Fasting
"became the grand means of repelling the devil and
"appeasing God ; celibacy the greatest of the virtues.
" Pilgrimages were made to Palestine and the tombs
" of the martyrs. Quantities of dust and earth were
" brought from the Holy Land and sold at enormous
" prices, as antidotes against devils. The virtues of
" consecrated water were upheld. Images and relics
"were introduced into the churches" (pp. 48-9).

" We may read with advantage the remarks made
"by Bishop Newton on this paganisation of Chris-
" tianity. He asks : ' Is not the worship of saints
" ' and angels now in all respects the same that the
"'worship of demons was in former times? The
" ' name only is different ; the thing is identically the

" 'same the deified men of the Christians are sub-

" ' stituted for the deified men of the Heathens. The
" ' promoters of this worship were sensible that it was
" ' the same, and that the one succeeded to the other ;
" ' and, as the worship is the same, so likewise it is
" ' performed with the same ceremonies. The burning
" ' of incense or perfumes on several altars at one and
" ' the same time ; the sprinkling of holy-water, or a

30 CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM

" ' mixture of salt and common water, at going into
" ' and coming out of places of public worship ; the
" ' lighting up of a great number of lamps and wax
" ' candles in broad daylight before altars and statues
" ' of these deities ; the hanging up of votive offerings
" 'and rich presents as attestations of so many mira-
" ' culous cures and deliverances from diseases and
" ' dangers ; the canonisation or deification of deceased
"'worthies; the assigning of distinct provinces or
" ' prefectures to departed heroes and saints ; the wor-
"' shipping and adoring of the dead in their sepul-
"'chres, shrines, and relics; the consecrating and
" ' bowing down to images ; the attributing of mira-
" ' culous powers and virtues to idols ; the setting up
" 'of little oratories, altars, and statues in the streets
" ' and highways, and on the tops of mountains ; the
" ' carrying of images and relics in pompous proces-
"'sion, with numerous lights and with music and
" ' singing ; flagellations at solemn seasons under the
" ' notion of penance ; a great variety of religious
" ' orders and fraternities of priests ; the shaving of
" ' priests, or the tonsure as it is called, on the crown
" ' of their heads ; the imposing of celibacy and vows
" ' of chastity on the religious of both sexes — all these
"'and many more rites and ceremonies are equally
" ' parts of pagan and popish superstition. Nay, the
" ' very same temples, the very same images, which
" ' were once consecrated to Jupiter and the other
" 'demons, are now consecrated to the Virgin Mary
" ' and the other saints. The very same rites and
" ' inscriptions are ascribed to both, the very same
" ' prodigies and miracles are related of these as of
" 'those. In short, almost the whole of paganism is
" ' converted and applied to popery ; the one is mani-
" ' festly formed upon the same plan and principles as

CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM 31

" ' the other ; so that there is not only a conformity,
" ' but even a uniformity, in the worship of ancient
" ' and modern, of heathen and Christian Rome ' "
(pp. 50-51).

" In succession, Antioch, Csesarea, Damascus fell ;
"Jerusalem itself was taken by storm ; the sepulchre
" of Christ, the churches of Constantine and of Helena,
"were given to the flames ; the Saviour's cross was
"sent as a trophy to Persia ; the churches were rifled
" of their riches ; the sacred relics, collected by super-
"stition, were dispersed. Egypt was invaded, con-
"quered, and annexed to the Persian Empire; the
" Patriarch of Alexandria escaped by flight to
" Cyprus ; the African coast to Tripoli was seized.
"On the north Asia Minor was subdued, and for ten
"years the Persian forces encamped on the shores of
"the Bosphorus, in front of Constantinople.

" In his extremity Heraclius begged for peace. ' I
"'will never give peace to the Emperor of Rome,'
" replied the proud Persian, ' till he has abjured his
" ' crucified God and embraced the worship of the
"'sun.' After a long delay terms were, however,
"secured, and the Roman Empire was ransomed at
" the price of ' a thousand talents of gold, a thousand
" ' talents of silver, a thousand silk robes, a thousand
" ' horses, and a thousand virgins.'

" But Heraclius submitted only for a moment. He
"found means not only to restore his affairs, but to
"retaliate on the Persian Empire. The operations
" by which he achieved this result were worthy of the
" most brilliant days of Rome.

" Though her military renown was thus recovered,
" though her territory was regained, there was some-
" thing that the Roman Empire had irrecoverably
" lost. Religious faith could never be restored. In

32 CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM

"face of the world Magianism had insulted Chris-
" tianity, by profaning her most sacred places —
" Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary — by burning the
"sepulchre of Christ, by rifling and destroying the
"churches, by scattering to the winds priceless relics,
" by carrying off, with shouts of laughter, the cross.

"Miracles had once abounded in Syria, in Egypt,
"in Asia Minor ; there was not a church which had
" not its long catalogue of them. Very often they
"were displayed on unimportant occasions and in
" insignificant cases. In this supreme moment, when
"such aid was most urgently demanded, not a miracle
" was worked.

"Amazement filled the Christian populations of the
" East when they witnessed these Persian sacrileges
"perpetrated with impunity. The heavens should
" have rolled asunder, the earth should have opened
" her abysses, the sword of her Almighty should have
"flashed in the sky, the fate of Sennacherib should
"have been repeated. But it was not so. In the
" land of miracles amazement was followed by con-
"sternation ; consternation died out in disbelief.

" But, dreadful as it was, the Persian conquest was
" but a prelude to the great event, the story of which
"we have now to relate — the Southern revolt against
" Christianity. Its issue was the loss of nine-tenths
" of her geographical possessions — Asia, Africa, and
"part of Europe " (pp. 76-7).

Mr. Winwood Reade, in his Martyrdom of Man
(1896), thus sums up the effect of this blending of
Christianity and paganism : —

" Christianity had conquered paganism, and pagan-
"ism had corrupted Christianity. The legends which
"belonged to Osiris and Apollo had been applied to
" the life of Jesus. The single deity of the Jews had

CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM 33

" been exchanged for the Trinity, which the Egyptians
"had invented, and which Plato had idealised into a
" philosophic system. The man who had said, ' Why
" ' callest thou me good ? There is none good but
"'one, that is God,' had now himself been made a
" god, or the third part of one. The Hebrew element,
" however, had not been entirely cast off. With some
" little inconsistency, the Jewish sacred books were
"said to be inspired, and nearly all the injunctions
"contained in them were disobeyed. It was heresy
" to deny that the Jews were the chosen people ; it
" was heresy to assert that the Jews would be saved "
(p. 230).

It is also of great interest, and fatal to the Christian
idea of a supernatural origin, to study the close
resemblance of Christian doctrines and practices to
those of modern Buddhism, which dates from the
second century B.C. The parallel puts in a very
clear light the natural origin of religious ideas and
customs. One of the chief authorities on Buddhism
in England is Mr. F. W. Rhys Davids, and on this
point he writes as follows in his Hibbert Lectures
(1881):—

" One of the most curious facts in the whole history
" of the world is that Buddhism and Christianity have
'.'both developed, in the course of fifteen hundred
"years, into sacerdotal and sacramental systems, each
"with its bells and rosaries and images and holy
"water; each with its services in dead languages,
" with choirs and processions and creeds and incense,
" in which the laity are spectators only ; each with
" its mystic rites and ceremonies performed by shaven
" priests in gorgeous robes ; each with its abbots and
" monks and nuns, of many grades ; each with its
"worship of virgins, saints, and angels ; its reverence

34 CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM

" to the Virgin and the Child ; its confessions, fasts,
" and purgatory ; its idols, relics, symbols, and sacred
" pictures ; its shrines and pilgrimages ; each with
"its huge monasteries and gorgeous cathedrals, its
" powerful hierarchy and its wealthy cardinals ; each,
"even, ruled over by a Pope, with a triple tiara on
" his head and the sceptre of temporal power in his
"hand, the representative on earth of an eternal
"Spirit in the heavens !" (pp. 192-3).

This similarity was noted with concern by the early
missionaries ; and Professor Andrew D. White, in
his great and valuable work. The Warfare of Science
with Theology, gives us an account of the impressions
of certain Jesuits who came into contact with the
Buddhists : —

" Noteworthy in the progress of this knowledge
"was the work of Fathers Hue and Gabet. In 1839
"the former of these, a French Lazarist priest, set
" out on a mission to China. Having prepared
" himself at Macao by eighteen months of hard study,
"and having arrayed himself like a native, even to
" the wearing of the queue and the staining of his
"skin, he visited Peking and penetrated Mongolia.
" Five years later, taking Gabet with him, both dis-
"guised as Lamas, he began his long and toilsome
"journey to the chief seats of Buddhism in Thibet,
"and, after two years of fearful dangers and suffer-
" ings, accomplished it. Driven out finally by the
"Chinese, Hue returned to Europe in 1852, having
" made one of the most heroic, self-denying, and, as
"it turned out, one of the most valuable efforts in
"all the noble annals of Christian missions. His
" accounts of these journeys, written in a style simple,
"clear, and interesting, at once attracted attention
" throughout the world. But far more important than

CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM 35

"any services he had rendered to the Church he
"served was the influence of his book upon the
"general opinions of thinking men; for he com-
" plated a series of revelations made by earlier, less
"gifted, and less devoted travellers, and brought to
"the notice of the world the amazing similarity of
"the ideas, institutions, observances, ceremonies,
"and ritual, and even the ecclesiastical costumes, of
"the Buddhists to those of his own Church.

" Buddhism was thus shown with its hierarchy, in
" which the Grand Lama, an infallible representative
"of the Most High, is surrounded by its minor
" Lamas, much like cardinals ; with its bishops
"wearing mitres, its celibate priests with shaven
"crown, cope, dalmatic, and censer; its cathedrals
" with clergy gathered in the choir ; its vast monas-
" teries filled with monks and nuns vowed to poverty,
"chastity, and obedience; its church arrangements,
" with shrines of saints and angels ; its use of images,
" pictures, and illuminated missals ; its service, with
" a striking general resemblance to the Mass ; anti-
" phonal choirs; intoning of prayers; recital of
"creeds; repetition of litanies; processions, mystic
" rites, and incense ; the offering and adoration of
" bread upon an altar lighted by candles ; the drink-
" ing from a chalice by the priest ; prayers and
"offerings for the dead ; benediction with out-
" stretched hands; fasts, confessions, and doctrine
"of purgatory — all this and more was now clearly
" revealed. The good father was evidently staggered
" by these amazing facts ; but his robust faith soon
"gave him an explanation : he suggested that Satan,
"in anticipation of Christianity, had revealed to
" Buddhism this divinely constituted order of things.
" This naive explanation did not commend itself to

36 CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM

"his superiors in the Roman Church. In the days
" of St. Augustine or of St. Thomas Aquinas it would
" doubtless have been received much more kindly ;
"but in the days of Cardinal Antonelli this was
"hardly to be expected. The Roman authorities,
"seeing the danger of such plain revelations in the
" nineteenth century, even when coupled with such
"devout explanations, put the book under the ban,
"though not before it had been spread throughout
"the world in various transactions. Father Hue was
"sent on no more missions " (Vol. II, pp. 379-81).

"As the Buddhist scriptures were more fully
" examined, there were disclosed interesting antici-
" pations of statements in later sacred books. The
" miraculous conception of Buddha and his virgin
"birth, like that of Horus in Egypt and of Krishna
" in India ; the previous annunciation to his mother
" Maja ; his birth during a journey by her ; the star
"appearing in the east, and the angels chanting in
" the heavens at his birth ; his temptation — all these
"and a multitude of other statements were full of
" suggestions to larger thought regarding the develop-
" ment of sacred literature in general. Even the
"eminent Roman Catholic missionary, Bishop
" Bigandet, was obliged to confess, in his scholarly
" life of Buddha, these striking similarities between
" the Buddhist scriptures and those which it was his
" mission to expound, though by this honest state-
"ment his own further promotion was rendered
"impossible" (Vol. I, p. 383).

CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION

Confucius was, in my opinion, the greatest man that
ever lived, a man marvellously wise for his time.
There is more in the Golden Rule than in all the
incantations, forms, and ceremonies in the world.
Confucius told us that it was useless to speculate
on the unknowable ; that we might speculate on it
to all eternity without finding out anything. He
was not only a wise philosopher, but his great mind
and knowledge of human affairs enabled him to look
into the future. He had the welfare of his country at
heart, and he advised his followers in the strongest
language to have nothing to do with those who
pretend to have dealings with the supernatural. In
the opinion of this great man, there was no differ-
ence between supernaturalism and superstition. This
advice was given more than four hundred years b.c.
— about eight hundred years before supernaturalism
became malignant and destructive in Europe.

In order to show the great wisdom of Confucius, it
is only necessary to point out the result of the intro-
duction into Europe, Asia Minor, and Northern
Africa of a religion founded on supernaturalism, a
religion that held Europe in bondage and degrada-
tion for more than twelve centuries — that is, from
400 A.D. to 1600 A.D. — since which time the power
of the Church has been constantly declining.

It was not long before the absurdities of the
Biblical scheme began to dawn upon the minds of
the more thoughtful Europeans. As the splendid

37

38 CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION

educational system of the Roman Empire was
destroyed at the triumph of Christianity, and what
learning was left was confined to monastic schools
under the supervision of narrow-minded abbots, there
was little chance of any general protest against these
absurdities for many ages to come. But men here
and there were able to cultivate intellectual develop-
ment, and the cry of " unbeliever " was raised. It
does not seem to occur to Christians that they them-
selves are " unbelievers," and the term is in itself
merely a harmless platitude. As Mr. J. M. Robert-
son says in his Letters on Reasoning (1902) : —

"It has always been common .for theologians to
"denounce not merely wrong belief, but 'unbelief.'
" We shall consider in another letter the temper in
" which they speak. Let us here note their formal
" inconsistency, their want of logic. They themselves
"are just as much 'unbelievers' as anybody else.
"Their creed took its rise by way of disbelief in
"another creed ; their first teachers were unbelievers.
"Right and wrong beliefs alike involve disbelief;
"every new religion negates in whole or in part
" previous religions ; and the process from one beliet
" to another which negates it is either an insane
"spasm of emotion or a process of doubt.

" Each believer in turn disbelieves the doctrine
" which contradicts him ; and just as the Christians
" spoke of the ' unbelieving Moslems,' so the Moslems
"spoke of the 'infidel Christians'" (pp. 18-19).

Logic is, however, not the strong point of believers
in any dogma. To disbelieve their particular dogma
is a deadly sin, and therefore any kind of research,
or independent thinking which leads to it, must be
suppressed. In non-Christian lands, as in the old
Roman Empire, one could write eloquent pleas for

CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION 39

tolerance ; in Christian lands intolerance became the
supreme virtue. The appalling struggle against
honest search for the truth, which has stained the
soil of Europe with its noblest blood, grew in propor-
tion as intelligence grew, and the mass of the people
sank back into the dense ignorance from which the
Roman Empire had begun to awaken them. As
Ingersoll says : —

"Through millions of ages, by countless efforts
"to satisfy his wants, to gratify his passions, his
"appetites, man slowly developed his brain, changed
"two of his feet into hands, and forced into the
" darkness of his brain a few gleams and glimmerings
" of reason. He was hindered by ignorance, by fear,
" by mistakes, and he advanced only as he found the
" truth — the absolute facts. Through countless years
" he has groped and crawled and struggled and
"climbed and stumbled towards the light. He has
" been hindered and delayed and deceived by augurs
" and prophets, by popes and priests. He has been
" betrayed by saints, misled by apostles and Christs,
" frightened by devils and ghosts, enslaved by chiefs
"and kings, robbed by altars and thrones. In the
" name of education his mind has been filled with
" mistakes, with miracles, and lies, with the im-
" possible, the absurd, and infamous" (Vol. IV,

p. 71).

" The Churches said to the unbelievers, the heretics :
" ' Although our God will punish you for ever in
" ' another world — in his prison — the doors of which
" ' open only to receive, we, unless you believe, will
" ' torment you now.'

" And then the members of these Churches, led by
" priests, popes, and clergymen, sought out their
" unbelieving neighbours— chained them in dungeons,

40 CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION

"stretched them on racks, crushed their bones, cut
"out their tongues, extinguished their eyes, flayed
"them alive, and consumed their poor bodies in
"flames.

" All this was done because these Christian savages
"believed in the dogma of eternal pain" {Ibid.,
pp. 84-5).

" All the sciences, except theology, are eager for
"facts — hungry for the truth. On the brow of a
" finder of a fact the laurel is placed.

" In a theological seminary, if a professor finds a
"fact inconsistent with the creed, he must keep it
"secret or deny it, or lose his place. Mental veracity
"is a crime ; cowardice and hypocrisy are virtues.

"A fact inconsistent with the creed is denounced
"as a lie, and the man who declares or announces
"the fact is a blasphemer. Every professor breathes
" the air of insincerity. Every one is mentally dis-
" honest. Every one is a pious fraud. Theology is
" the only dishonest science ; the only one that is
" based on belief, on credulity ; the only one that
"abhors investigation, that despises thought and
"denounces reason.

"All the great theologians in the Catholic Church
"have denounced reason as the light furnished by
"the enemy of mankind — as the road that leads to
"perdition. All the great Protestant theologians,
"from Luther to the orthodox clergy of our time,
"have been the enemies of reason. All orthodox
"Churches of all ages have been the enemies of
" science. They attacked the astronomers as though
" they were criminals, the geologists as though they
"were assassins. They regarded physicians as the
" enemies of God — as men who were trying to defeat
"the decrees of Providence. The biologists, the

A Typical Bible Picture.

Bones.

A clieerful picture from the Dore Bible, published by
Cassell & Co., illustrating the thirty-seventh chapter of
Ezekiel : " O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
" Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones : Behold, I
" will cause breath to enter unto you, and ye shall live :
" and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring; up flesh
" upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in
" vou, and ye shall live ; and ve shall know that I am
"'the Lord."

To my Chinese readers I would say that it would be
very interesting to know what became of these people
when fhey were restored to life. Would they claim
their property that had been divided among their heirs ?
Would each return to his wife. And, in the event of
her having married again, to whom would she belong?
These are questions that must be left to the missionaries
— thev are too much for me.

To face p. 40.

CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION 41

"anthropologists, the archasologists, the readers of
"ancient inscriptions, the delvers in buried cities,
"were all hated by the theologians. They were
"afraid that these men might find something incon-
"sistent with the Bible" {Ibid., pp. 87-8).

" Protestants and Catholics vied with each other in
" the work of enslaving the human mind. For ages
" they were rivals in the infamous effort to rid the
" earth of honest people. They infested every country,
" every city, town, hamlet, and family. They appealed
"to the worst passions of the human heart. They
" sowed the seeds of discord and hatred in every land.
" Brother denounced brother, wives informed against
"their husbands, mothers accused their children;
"dungeons were crowded with the innocent; the
"flesh of the good and true rotted in the clasp of
"chains ; the flames devoured the heroic, and, in the
" name of the most merciful God, his children were
"exterminated with famine, sword, and fire. Over
"the wild waves of battle rose and fell the banner of
" Jesus Christ. For sixteen hundred years the robes
" of the Church were red with innocent blood. The
" ingenuity of Christians was exhausted in devising
" punishment severe enough to be inflicted upon
" other Christians who honestly and sincerely differed
"with them upon any point whatever" {Ibid., Vol. I,
pp. 210-11).

" Every nerve in the human body capable of pain
" has been sought out and touched by the Church.

" Let it be remembered that all Churches have
"persecuted heretics to the extent of their power.
"Toleration has increased only when and where
"the power of the Church has diminished. From
"Augustine until now the spirit of the Christians
" has remained the same. There has been the same

42 CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION

"intolerance, the same undying hatred of all who
"think for themselves, and the same determination
"to crush out of the human brain all knowledge
"inconsistent with an ignorant creed" {Ibid.,
p. 212).

" The highest type of the orthodox Christian does
"not forget, neither does he learn. He neither
"advances nor recedes. He is a living fossil, em-
" bedded in that rock called 'faith.' He makes no
" effort to better his condition, because all his strength
" is exhausted in keeping other people from improving
" theirs. The supreme desire of his heart is to force
" all others to adopt his creed ; and in order to accom-
"plish this object he denounces free thinking as a
"crime, and this crime he calls heresy. When he
" had power, ' heresy ' was the most terrible and
"formidable of words. It meant confiscation, exile,
"imprisonment, torture, and death.

" In those days the cross and rack were inseparable
"companions. Across the open Bible lay the sword
"and fagot. Not content with burning such heretics
" as were alive, they even tried the dead, in order that
"the Church might rob their wives and children.
"The property of all heretics was confiscated, and
"on this account they charged the dead with being
" heretical, indicted, as it were, their dust, to the end
" that the Church might clutch the bread of orphans.
" Learned divines discussed the propriety of tearing
" out the tongues of heretics before they were burned,
" and the general opinion was that this ought to be
" done, so that the heretics should not be able, by
" uttering blasphemies, to shock the Christians who
" were burning them. With a mixture of ferocity
"and Christianity the priests insisted that heretics
" ought to be burned at a slow fire, giving as a

CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION 43

" reason that more time was given them for repent-
" ance.

" No wonder that Jesus Christ said, ' I came not to
" ' bring peace, but a sword.'

" Every priest regarded himself as the agent or
" God. He answered all questions by authority, and
" to treat him with disrespect was an insult offered to
"God. No one was asked to think, but all were
" commanded to obey.

"In 1208 the Inquisition was established. Seven
"years afterwards the fourth council of the Lateran
"enjoined all kings and rulers to swear an oath
"that they would exterminate heretics from their
"dominions. The sword of the Church was un-
" sheathed, and the world was at the mercy of
"ignorant and infuriated priests, whose eyes feasted
"upon the agonies they inflicted. Acting, as they
" believed, or pretended to believe, under the com-
" mand of God, stimulated by the hope of infinite
" reward in another world, hating heretics with every
" drop of their bestial blood, savage beyond descrip-
"tion, merciless beyond conception, these infamous
" priests, in a kind of frenzied joy, leaped upon the
" helpless victims of their rage. They crushed their
"bones in iron boots ; tore their quivering flesh with
" iron hooks and pincers ; cut off their lips and eye-
" lids ; pulled out their nails, and into the bleeding
" quick thrust needles ; tore out their tongues ;
" extinguished their eyes ; stretched them upon
" racks ; flayed them alive ; crucified them with
" their heads downward ; exposed them to wild
"beasts; burned them at the stake; mocked their
" cries and groans ; ravished their wives ; robbed
"their children — and then prayed God to finish the
" holy work in hell.

44 CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION

" Millions upon millions were sacrificed upon the
" altars of bigotry. The Catholic burned the Lutheran,
" the Lutheran burned the Catholic, the Episcopalian
"tortured the Presbyterian, the Presbyterian tortured
"the Episcopalian. Every denomination killed all it
"could of every other, and each Christian felt in duty
" bound to exterminate every other Christian who
"denied the smallest fraction of his creed.

"In the reign of Henry VIII — that pious and
" moral founder of the apostolic Episcopal Church
" — there was passed by the Parliament of England
"an Act entitled 'An Act for abolishing of diversity
"'of opinion.' And in this Act was set forth what
"a good Christian was obliged to believe : —

" First. That in the Sacrament was the real body
"and blood of Jesus Christ.

" Second. That the body and blood of Jesus Christ
"was in the bread, and the blood and body of Jesus
" Christ was in the wine.

"Third. That priests should not marry.
" Fourth. That vows of chastity were of perpetual
"obligation.

"Fifth. That private Masses ought to be con-
" tinned ; and,

" Sixth. That auricular confession to a priest must
"be maintained.

"This creed was made by law, in order that all
"men might know just what to believe by simply
" reading the statute. The Church hated to see the
"people wearing out their brains in thinking upon
"these subjects. It was thought far better that a
" creed should be made by Parliament, so that what-
" ever might be lacking in evidence might be made
" up in force. The punishment for denying the first
"article was death by fire ; for the denial of any other

CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION 45

"article, imprisonment, and for the second offence
" death.

" Your attention is called to these six articles,
"established during the reign of Henry VIII, and
" by the Church of England, simply because not one
" of these articles is believed by that Church to-day.
" If the law then made by the Church could be
" enforced now, every Episcopalian would be burned
"at the stake" {Ibid., pp. 213-17).

"Search the records of the whole world, find out
"the history of every barbarous tribe, and you
" can find no crime that touched a lower depth of
" infamy than those the Bible's God commanded and
"approved. For such a God I have no words to
"express my loathing and contempt, and all the
" words in all the languages of man would scarcely
" be sufficient. Away with such a God ! Give me
"Jupiter rather, with lo and Europa, or even Siva,
"with his skulls and snakes" {Ibid., p. 241).

These strong and moving statements will be fully
justified by the historical extracts which we shall give
presently. Let me first quote a few more general
indictments from authoritative writers : —

" A careful study of the history of religious tolera-
"tion will prove that in every Christian country
" where it has been adopted it has been forced upon
"the clergy by the authority of the secular classes.
" At the present day it is still unknown to those
" nations among whom the ecclesiastical power is
" stronger than the temporal power " (Buckle's History
of Civilisation in England, Vol. I, p. 337).

"Tribunals for heretics were erected all over
" Europe, yielding unnumbered victims, whose
" torments seemed only to fill their persecutors, with
"all their Christian charity, with a peculiar satis-

46 CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION

"faction. The power of Rome was directed merci-
"lessly for centuries against everything that stood in
"its way. Under the notorious Torquemada (1481-
"98), in Spain alone 8,000 heretics were burnt alive,
"and 90,000 punished with the confiscation of their
" goods and the most grievous ecclesiastical fines ;
" in the Netherlands, under the rule of Charles V, at
" least 50,000 men fell victims to the clerical blood-
" thirst. And while the heavens resounded with the
" cry of the martyrs, the wealth of half the world was
" pouring into Rome, to which the whole of Chris-
"tendom paid tribute; and the self-styled repre-
"sentatives of God on earth and their accomplices
"(not infrequently atheists themselves) wallowed in
" pleasure and vice of every description. ' And all
"'these privileges,' said the frivolous, syphilitic
" Pope, Leo X, ' have been secured to us by the
" ' fable of Jesus Christ ' " (Professor Ernst Haeckel,
The Riddle of the Universe, p. 326).

" Neither the Austrians nor the frugal Spaniards
"are by nature a bloodthirsty race. But the dogma
" of exclusive salvation left them no choice. It made
" the suppression of unbelief a sacred duty ; for if
" the propaganda of erroneous doctrines could doom
"thousands to an eternity of unspeakable, incom-
" parable, and hopeless tortures, the objections
"founded upon such scruples as compassion with
"the short sufferings of a condemned heretic must
"have assumed an appearance of almost idiotic
" futility.

" Hence inquisitions and crusades, thirty years'
"wars, heretic hunts, massacres of St. Bartholomew,
" expulsions of the Moors, and extermination of the
"Albigenses. Hence, also, that chief disgrace of
"our own age— the cowardly hypocrisy which, like

CHRISTIANITV AND PERSECUTION 47

"an all-pervading poison-vapour, taints the whole
" atmosphere of our social life " (Felix L. Oswald,
The Secret of the East, pp. 41-2).

" On the altar of her anti-natural idol the Christian
" Church has sacrificed the lives of eighteen millions
" of the noblest and bravest of our fellow men. Two
" millions were butchered in the wars against the
" freedom-loving children of nature, the Saxons, the
" Sarmatians, and the pagan Scandinavians ; one
" million in the wars against the Arian heretics ; at
"least five millions in the seven larger and four
" smaller crusades. The extermination of the Spanish
" Saracens reduced the population of the peninsula
"by seven millions. One million was slaughtered
"in the fifteen years' man-hunt against the Albi-
" genses, the thirty years' war against the Protestant
" princes, the massacres of the French Huguenots,
"the Waldenses, and the insurgents of the Nether-
" lands. A full million human lives were devoured
"by the Moloch of the Holy Inquisition and the
"witch tribunals, which for nearly seven centuries
" infested all the principal cities of Christian Europe.
" To this number we might add the twelve million
"aborigines of the New World, who in less than a
"century fell victims to the insane fury of their
"Christian conquerors and the unremitting persecu-
"tions of the Christian Inquisition" {Ibid., pp. 82-3).

" In many parts of Spain there were six friars and
"two priests for every dozen working men" {Ibid.,
p. 94).

"Between 1500 and 1580 the Inquisition murdered
" two hundred and seventy thousand nonconformists.
" Nine-tenths of these were American pagans and
"Spanish Mohammedans and Jews; the rest were
"Caucasian sceptics" {Ibid., p. 100).

48 CHRISTIANITY AND PERSECUTION

" The systematic murder of all avowed Freethinkers
"had emasculated the national mind. They were
" contentedly ignorant. They had ceased to despise
" mental prostitution. They had come to enjoy the
"ceremonies and wretched mummeries of their
"Church" {Ihid., p. iii).

THE MURDER OF HYPATIA AND OF
BRUNO

In this welter of bloody persecution two martyr-
figures stand out with especial prominence — Hypatia
of Alexandria and Giordano Bruno of Rome. The
death of Hypatia is not one of those cases in which
an " unbeliever " was tried by the Church, and handed
over to the civil power with a hypocritical " recom-
mendation to mercy." But the religious fanaticism
of the Christians of Alexandria and the monks of the
district who barbarously slew her is directly attri-
butable to their leaders and to the fanaticism of the
Bible. As a matter of fact, few historians doubt that
Bishop Cyril of Alexandria had a more direct guilt
in connection with the murder of Hypatia, and the
imperial authorities afterwards censured him. I give
the story in the words of Draper, with one correction.
Hypatia was not a young woman at the time of her
death, as is commonly supposed, since Kingsley
made her young in his famous novel. The ancient
chronicles show that she had passed her fiftieth year,
if not sixtieth, and was the most influential and
respected citizen of Alexandria. This does but
enhance the brutality of the murder. Draper says : —
"Among the cultivators of Platonic philosophy
"whom the times had spared there was a beautiful
"young woman, Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, the
" mathematician, who not only distinguished herself
"by her expositions of the Neo-Platonic and Peri-
"patetic doctrines, but was also honoured for the

49 E

50 THE MURDER OF HYPATIA AND OF BRUNO

"ability with which she commented on the writings
"of ApoUonius and other geometers. Every day
" before her door stood a long train of chariots ;
" her lecture-room was crowded with the wealth and
"fashion of Alexandria. Her aristocratic audiences
"were more than a rival to those attending upon the
" preaching of the archbishop, and perhaps con-
"temptuous comparisons were instituted between
"the philosophical lectures of Hypatia and the
" incomprehensible sermons of Cyril. But if the
"archbishop had not philosophy, he had what on
"such occasions is more valuable — power. It was
" not to be borne that a heathen sorceress should
"thus divide such a metropolis with a prelate ; it was
" not to be borne that the rich, and noble, and young
"should thus be carried off by the black arts of a
"diabolical enchantress. Alexandria was too fair a
" prize to be lightly surrendered. It could vie with
" Constantinople itself. Into its streets, from the
" yellow sand-hills of the desert, long trains of
"camels and countless boats brought the abundant
" harvests of the Nile. A ship-canal connected the
"harbour of Eunostos with Lake Mareotis. The
"harbour was a forest of masts. Seaward, looking
" over the blue Mediterranean, was the great light-
" house, the Pharos, counted as one of the wonders
" of the world ; and to protect the shipping from the
" north wind there was a mole three-quarters of a mile
" in length, with its drawbridges, a marvel of the skill
"of the Macedonian engineers. Two great streets
" crossed each other at right-angles ; one was three,
"the other one mile long. In the square where they
"intersected stood the mausoleum in which rested the
"body of Alexander. The city was full of noble
" edifices— the palace, the exchange, the C^sareum,

THE MURDER OF HYPATIA AND OF BRUNO 51

"the halls of justice. Among the temples, those of
" Pan and Neptune were conspicuous. The visitor
"passed countless theatres, churches, temples, syna-
"gogues. There was a time before Theophilus when
"the Serapion might have been approached on one
" side by a slope for carriages, on the other by a flight
"of a hundred marble steps. On these stood the
"grand portico, with its columns, its chequered
"corridor leading round a roofless hall, the adjoin-
"ing porches of which contained the library, and
" from the midst of its area arose a lofty pillar visible
"afar off at sea. On one side of the town were the
" royal docks ; on the other the Hippodrome ; and on
"appropriate sites the Necropolis, the market-places,
"the gymnasium, its stoa being a stadium long; the
"amphitheatre, groves, gardens, fountains, obelisks,
"and countless public buildings with gilded roofs
"glittering in the sun. Here might be seen the
" wealthy Christian ladies walking in the streets,
" their dresses embroidered with Scripture parables,
"the Gospels hanging from their necks by a golden
"chain, Maltese dogs with jewelled collars frisking
"round them, and slaves with parasols and fans
"trooping along. There might be seen the ever-
" trading, ever-thriving Jew, fresh from the wharves,
"or busy negotiating his loans. But, worst of all, the
"chariots with giddy or thoughtful pagans hasten-
" ing to the academy of Hypatia, to hear those
"questions discussed which have never yet been
" answered : ' Where am I ? ' ' What am I ? ' ' What
" ' can I know ? ' — to hear discourses on antenatal
" existence, or, as the vulgar asserted, to find out the
"future by the aid of the black art, soothsaying by
" Chaldee talismans engraved on precious stones, by
" incantations with a glass and water, by moonshine

52 THE MURDER OF HYPATIA AND OF BRUNO

"on the walls, by the magic mirror, the reflection of
"a sapphire, a sieve, or cymbals ; fortune-telling by
"the veins of the hand, or consultations with the
" stars.

Cyril at length determined to remove this great
"reproach, and overturn what now appeared to be
"the only obstacle in his way to uncontrolled
"authority in the city. We are reaching one of
"those moments in which great general principles
"embody themselves in individuals. It is Greek
" philosophy under the appropriate form of Hypatia,
"ecclesiastical ambition under that of Cyril, Their
"destinies are about to be fulfilled. As Hypatia
"comes forth to her academy, she is assaulted by
" Cyril's mob — an Alexandrian mob of many monks.
" Amid the fearful yelling of these bare-legged and
"black-cowled fiends she is dragged from her chariot,
"and in the public street stripped naked. In her
" mortal terror she is haled into an adjacent church,
"and in the sacred edifice is killed by the club of
" Peter the Reader. It is not always in the power of
"him who has stirred up the worst passions of a
" fanatical mob to stop their excesses when his pur-
"pose is accomplished. With the blow given by
" Peter the aim of Cyril was reached, but his merciless
"adherents had not glutted their vengeance. They
"outraged the naked corpse, dismembered it, and,
"incredible to be said, finished their infernal crime
"by scraping the flesh from the bones with oyster-
" shells, and casting the remnants into a fire. Though
"in his privacy St. Cyril and his friends might laugh
"at the end of his antagonist, his memory must bear
"the weight of the righteous indignation of posterity.
"Thus, in the 414th year of our era, the position of
" philosophy in the intellectual metropolis of the world

THE MURDER OF HYPATIA AND OF BRUNO 53

" was determined ; henceforth science must sink into
"obscurity and subordination. Its public existence
" will no longer be tolerated. Indeed, it may be said
" that from this period for some centuries it altogether
" disappeared. The leaden mace of bigotry had struck
"and shivered the exquisitely tempered steel of Greek
"philosophy. Cyril's acts passed unquestioned. It
"was now ascertained that throughout the Roman
" world there must be no more liberty of thought. It
"had been said that these events prove Greek philo-
"sophy to have been a sham, and, like other shams, it
" was driven out of the world when detected, and that it
" could not withstand the truth. Such assertions might
" answer their purposes very well, so long as the victors
"maintained their power in Alexandria, but they
" manifestly are of inconvenient application after the
" Saracens had captured the city. However this may
" be, an intellectual stagnation settled upon the place,
" an invisible atmosphere of oppression, ready to crush
" down, morally and physically, whatever provoked
" its weight. And so for the next two dreary and
" weary centuries things remained, until oppression
" and force were ended by a foreign invader. It was
"well for the world that the Arabian conquerors
"avowed their true argument, the scimitar, and made
" no pretensions to superhuman wisdom. They were
" thus left free to pursue knowledge without involving
" themselves in theological contradiction, and were able
" to make Egypt once more illustrious among the
" nations of the earth, to snatch it from the hideous
" fanaticism, ignorance, and barbarism into which it
" had been plunged. On the shore of the Red Sea
"once more a degree of the earth's surface was to
" be measured, and her size ascertained — but by a
"Mohammedan astronomer. In Alexandria the

S4 THE MURDER OF HYPATIA AND OF BRUNO

"memory of the illustrious old times was to be
" recalled by the discovery of the motion of the
"sun's apogee by Albategnius, and the third
"inequality of the moon, the variation, by Aboul
" Wefa ; to be discovered six centuries later in
" Europe by Tycho Brahe. The canal of the
" Pharaohs from the Nile to the Red Sea, cleared
"out by the Ptolemies in former ages, was to be
"cleared from its sand again. The glad desert
" listened once more to the cheerful cry of the
"merchant camel-driver, instead of the midnight
"prayer of the monk" (The Intellectual Development
of Europe, by Professor John Draper, Vol. I,
pp. 322-25).

The story of the rebellious monk Giordano Bruno,
one of the ablest thinkers of his time, who was
brutally executed by the authorities of the Church
of Rome, is told in simple and moving language
by Ingersoll, and, as the facts are not in dispute,
I take this account from his pages : —

"The night of the Middle Ages lasted for a
" thousand years. The first star that enriched the
" horizon of this universal gloom was Giordano
" Bruno. He was the herald of the dawn.

" He was born in 1550, was educated for a priest,
"and became a Dominican friar. At last his reason
"revolted against the doctrine of transubstantiation.
" He could not believe that the entire Trinity was in
"a wafer, or in a swallow of wine. He could not
" believe that a man could devour the Creator of the
" universe by eating a piece of bread. This led him
" to investigate other dogmas of the Catholic Church,
" and in every direction he found the same contradic-
"tions and impossibilities supported, not by reason,
" but by faith.

THE MURDER OF HYPATIA AND OF BRUNO 55

"Those who loved their enemies threatened his life.
" He was obliged to flee from his native land, and he
" became a vagabond in nearly every nation of
" Europe. He declared that he fought, not what
" priests believed, but what they pretended to believe.
" He was driven from his native country because of
" his astronomical opinions. He had lost confidence
" in the Bible as a scientific work. He was a danger
" because he had discovered a truth.

" He fled to England. He gave some lectures at
" Oxford. He found that institution controlled by
" priests. He found that they were teaching nothing
"of importance, only the impossible and the hurtful.
"He called Oxford 'the widow of true learning.'
" There were in England at that time two men who
" knew more than the rest of the world. Shakespeare
" was then alive.

" Bruno was driven from England. He was
" regarded as a dangerous man — he had opinions,
"he inquired after reasons, he expressed confidence
" in facts. He fled to France. He was not allowed
"to remain in that country. He discussed things —
"that was enough. The Church said: 'Move on.'
" He went to Germany. He was not a believer ; he
" was an investigator. The Germans wanted believers ;
" they regarded the whole Christian system as settled.
" They wanted witnesses ; they wanted men who
" would assert. So he was driven from Germany.

" He returned at last to his native land. He found
" himself without friends, because he had been true,
" not only to himself, but to the human race. But the
" world was false to him because he refused to crucify
" the Christ of his own soul between the two thieves
"of hypocrisy and bigotry. He was arrested for
" teaching that there are other worlds than this ; that

S6 THE MURDER OF HYPATIA AND OF BRUNO

'many of the stars are suns, around which other
'worlds revolve; that nature did. not exhaust all her
' energies on this grain of sand called the earth. He
' believed in a plurality of worlds in the rotation of
'this, in the heliocentric theory. For these crimes,
'and for these alone, he was imprisoned for six
'years. He was kept in solitary confinement. He
' was allowed no books, no friends, no visitors. He
' was denied pen and paper. In the darkness, in the
' loneliness, he had time to examine the great ques-
'tions of origin, of existence, of destiny. He put to
' the test what is called the goodness of God. He
' found that he could neither depend upon man nor
' upon any deity. At last the Inquisition demanded
' him. He was tried, condemned, excommunicated,
'and sentenced to be burned. According to Pro-
' fessor Draper, he believed that this world is
' animated by an intelligent soul — the cause of forms,
' but not of matter ; that it lives in all things, even
' in such as seem not to live ; that everything is
' ready to become organised ; that matter is the
' mother of forms, and then their grave ; that matter
'and the soul of things, together, constitute God.
' He was a pantheist — that is to say, an atheist. He
' was a lover of nature — a reaction from the asceticism
' of the Church. He was tired of the gloom of the
' monastery. He loved the fields, the woods, the
' streams. He said to his brother-priests : Come out
' of your cells, out of your dungeons ; come into the
'air and light. Throw away your beads and your
' crosses. Gather flowers, mingle with your fellow-
' men ; have wives and children ; scatter the seeds
'of joy; throw away the thorns and nettles of your
' creeds ; enjoy the perpetual miracle of life.
" On the sixteenth day of February, in the year of

THE MURDER OP HYPATIA AND OP BRUNO 57

" grace 1600, by ' the triumphant beast ' the Church
" of Rome, this philosopher, this great and splendid
"man, was burned" (Vol. Ill, pp. 349-52).

" The murder of this man will never be completely
"and perfectly avenged until from Rome shall be
" swept every vestige of priest and pope, until over
"the shapeless ruin of St. Peter's the crumbled
" Vatican and the fallen cross shall rise a monument
"to Bruno — the thinker, philosopher, philanthropist,
"atheist, martyr" {Ibid., p. 353).

" A few years ago a few men began to think, to
" investigate, to reason. They began to doubt the
" legends of the Church, the miracles of the past.
" They began to notice what happened. They found
" that eclipses came at certain intervals, and that their
" coming could be foretold. They became satisfied
" that the conduct of men had nothing to do with
"eclipses, and that the stars moved in their orbits
" unconscious of the suns of men. Galileo, Coper-
" nicus, and Kepler destroyed the astronomy of the
" Bible, and demonstrated that the ' inspired ' story
" of creation could not be true, and that the Church
" was as ignorant as the priests were dishonest.

" They found that the myth-makers were mistaken,
"that the sun and stars did not revolve about the
"earth, that the firmament was not solid, that the
" earth was not flat, and that the so-called philosophy
" of the theologians was absurd and idiotic.

" The stars became witnesses against the creeds of
" superstition.

" With the telescope the heavens were explored.
" The New Jerusalem could not be found.

" It had faded away.

"The Church persecuted the astronomers and
"denied the facts. In February, in the year of grace

S8 THE MURDER OF HYPATIA AND OF BRUNO

" sixteen hundred, the Catholic Church, the ' Trium-
"'phant Beast,' having in her hands, her paws, the
"keys of heaven and hell, accused Giordano Bruno
"of having declared that there were other worlds
" than this. He was tried, convicted, and imprisoned
" in a dungeon for seven years. He was offered his
" liberty if he would recant. Bruno, the atheist, the
" philosopher, refused to stain his soul by denying
"what he believed to be true. He was taken from
"his cell by the priests, by those who loved their
" enemies, and led to the place of execution. He was
" clad in a robe on which representations of devils
" had been painted — the devils that were soon to
" claim his soul. He was chained to a stake, and
"about his body the wood was piled. Then priests,
" followers of Christ, lighted the fagots, and flames
"consumed the greatest, the most perfect martyr
"that ever suffered death.

" And yet the Italian agent of God, the infallible
"Leo XIII, only a few years ago denounced Bruno,
" the ' bravest of the brave,' as a coward.

" The Church murdered him, and the Pope maligned
" his memory. Fagot and falsehood — two weapons of
"the Church" (Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 456-58).

THE STORY OF GALILEO

Shortly after the murder of Giordano Bruno the
Church of Rome began to persecute the great Italian
scientist, Gahleo Golilei. In this case we have a
"divinely inspired" Church bitterly opposing a plain
truth in regard to nature, and forcing an aged astro-
nomer to belie the truth and utter to the world what
he knew to be a falsehood. The story may best be
told by a series of extracts from that standard work,
Professor Andrew D. White's Warfare of Science ■mith
Theology (1900) : —

" Doubtless many will exclaim against the Roman
' Catholic Church for this ; but the simple truth is
' that Protestantism was no less zealous against the
'new scientific doctrine. All branches of the Pro-
'testant Church — Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican —
'vied with each other in denouncing the Copernican
' doctrine as contrary to Scripture, and at a later
' period the Puritans showed the same tendency.

" Said Martin Luther : ' People gave ear to an
' ' upstart astrologer who strove to show that the
' ' earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament,
' ' the sun and the moon. Whoever wishes to appear
' ' clever must devise some new system, which of all
' ' systems is, of course, the very best. This fool
' ' wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy ;
' ' but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded
' ' the sun to stand still, and not the earth ' (Vol. I,
'p. 126).
" Calvin took the lead, in his Commentary on

S9

6o THE STORY OF GALILEO

' Genesis, by condemning all who asserted that the
'earth is not at the centre of the universe. He
'clinched the matter by the usual reference to the
' first verse of the ninety-third Psalm, and asked :
' ' Who will venture to place the authority of Coper-
"nicus above that of the Holy Spirit?'" (Vol. I,
p. 127).

"Dr. Samuel Pike's Sacred Philosophy, the writings
"of Home, Bishop Horsley, and President Forbes
"contain most earnest attacks upon the ideas of
" Newton, such attacks being based upon Scripture.
"Dr. John Owen, so famous in the annals of Puri-
" tanism, declared the Copernican system a ' delusive
" ' and arbitrary hypothesis, contrary to Scripture ';
"and even John Wesley declared the new ideas to
" 'tend towards infidelity'" (Vol. I, pp. 127-28).

"To clinch anti-scientific ideas more firmly into
" German Protestant teaching, Rector Hensel wrote
" a text-book for schools entitled The Restored Mosaic
" System of the World, which showed the Copernican
"astronomy to be unscriptural " (Vol. I, p. 129).

" The first important attack on Galileo began in '
" 1610, when he announced that his telescope had
" revealed the moons of the planet Jupiter. The
"enemy saw that this took the Copernican theory
" out of the realm of hypothesis, and they gave battle
" immediately. They denounced both his methods
"and its results as absurd and impious. As to his
" method, professors bred in the ' safe science '
"favoured by the Church argued that the divinely
" appointed way of arriving at the truth in astronomy
" was by theological reasoning on texts of Scripture ;
" and, as to his results, they insisted, first that Aristotle
" knew nothing of these new revelations, and next that
" the Bible showed by all applicable types that there

THE STORY OF GALILEO 6i

" could be only seven planets ; that this was proved
" by the seven golden candlesticks of the Apocalypse,
" by the seven-branched candlestick of the tabernacle,
" and by the seven churches of Asia ; that from
" Galileo's doctrine consequences must logically
" result destructive to Christian truth. Bishops and
" priests, therefore, warned their flocks, and multi-
"tudes of the faithful besought the Inquisition to
"deal speedily and sharply with the heretic" (Vol. I,

P- 131)-

" Still another struggle was aroused when the hated
"telescope revealed spots upon the sun, and their
" motion indicating the sun's rotation. Monsignor
" Elci, head of the University of Pisa, forbade the
"astronomer Castelli to mention these spots to his
"students. Father Busseus, at the University of
"Innspruck, forbade the astronomer Scheiner, who
" had also discovered the spots and proposed a safe
" explanation of them, to allow the new discovery to
"be known there" (Vol. I, p. 133).

" Father Lorini proved that Galileo's doctrine was
" not only heretical, but ' atheistic,' and besought the
" Inquisition to intervene. The Bishop of Fiesole
"screamed in rage against the Copernican system,
"publicly insulted Galileo, and denounced him to the
" Grand-Duke. The Archbishop of Pisa secretly
"sought to entrap Galileo and deliver him to the
" Inquisition at Rome. The Archbishop of Florence
"solemnly condemned the new doctrines as unscrip-
" tural ; and Paul V, while petting Galileo and
"inviting him, as the greatest astronomer of the
"world, to visit Rome, was secretly moving the
"Archbishop of Pisa to pick up evidence against
" the astronomer.

" But by far the most terrible champion who now

62 THE STORY OF GALILEO

" appeared was Cardinal Bellarmin, one of the greatest
"theologians the world has known. He was earnest,
"sincere, and learned, but insisted on making science
" conform to Scripture. The weapons which men of
" Bellarmin's stamp used were purely theological.
" They held up before the world the dreadful conse-
"quences which must result to Christian theology
"were the heavenly bodies proved to revolve about
" the sun, and not about the earth. Their most
" tremendous dogmatic engine was the statement that
" ' his pretended discovery vitiates the whole Christian
"'plan of salvation.' Father Lecazre declared 'it
"'casts suspicion on the doctrine of the incarna-
" 'tion.' Others declared : ' It upsets the whole basis
" ' of theology. If the earth is a planet, and only one
" ' among several planets, it cannot be that any such
" ' great things have been done specially for it, as
"'the Christian doctrine teaches. If there are other
" ' planets, since God makes nothing in vain, they
" ' must be inhabited ; but how can their inhabitants
" ' be descended from Adam ? How can they trace
"'back their origin to Noah's ark? How can they
"'have been redeemed by the Saviour?' Nor was
" this argument confined to the theologians of the
" Roman Church ; Melanchthon, Protestant as he
"was, had already used it in his attacks on Coper-
" nicus and his school.

" In addition to this prodigious theological engine
" of war there was kept up a fire of smaller artillery
"in the shape of texts and scriptural extracts.

" But the war grew still more bitter, and some
" weapons used in it are worth examining. They
"are very easily examined, for they are to be found
" on all the battlefields of science ; but on that field
"they were used with more effect than on almost any

THE STORY OF GALILEO 63

" other. These weapons are the epithets ' infidel '
"and 'atheist'" (Vol. I, pp. 134-35).

" But the opposing powers were too strong. In
" 1615 Galileo was summoned before the Inquisition
" at Rome, and the mine which had been so long
" preparing was sprung. Sundry theologians of the
" Inquisition, having been ordered to examine two
" propositions which had been extracted from Galileo's
" letters on the solar spots, solemnly considered these
" points during about a month, and rendered their
"unanimous decision as follows : —

" ' The first proposition, that the sun is the centre
" ' and does not revolve about the earth, is foolish,
" ' absurd, false in theology, and heretical, because
" ' expressly contrary to Holy Scripture ' ,• a^td ' the
" 'second proposition, that the earth is not the centre
" ' but revolves about the sun, is absurd, false in
" 'philosophy, and, from a theological point of view at
" ' least, opposed to the true faith.'

"The Pope himself, Paul V, now intervened
" again ; he ordered that Galileo be brought before
"the Inquisition. Then the greatest man of science
" in that age was brought face to face with the
" greatest theologian — Galileo was confronted by
"Bellarmin. Bellarmin shows Galileo the error of
"his opinion, and orders him to renounce it. De
" Lauda, fortified by a letter from the Pope, gives
" orders that the astronomer be placed in the
"dungeons of the Inquisition should he refuse to
"yield. Bellarmin now commands Galileo, 'in the
" ' name of his Holiness the Pope and the whole
" ' Congregation of the Holy Office, to relinquish
" ' altogether the opinion that the sun is the centre
" ' of the world and immovable, and that the earth
" ' moves ; nor henceforth to hold, teach, or defend it

64 THE STORY OF GALILEO

"'in any way whatsoever, verbally or in writing.'
"This injunction Galileo acquiesces in and promises
" to obey.

"This was on February 26, 1616. About a fort-
" night later the Congregation of the Index, moved
" thereto, as the letters and documents now brought
"to light show, by Pope Paul V, solemnly rendered
" a decree that * the doctrine of the double motion of
" ' the earth about its axis and about the sun is false,
" ' and entirely contrary to Holy Scripture '; and that
"this opinion must neither be taught nor advocated.
" The same decree condemned all writings of Coper-
" nicus and ' all writings which affirm the motion of
" ^ the earth.' The great work of Copernicus was
" interdicted until corrected in accordance with the
"views of the Inquisition ; and the works of Galileo
"and Kepler, though not mentioned by name at that
" time, were included among those implicitly con-
"demned as ' affirming the motion of the earth.'

"The condemnations were inscribed upon the
"Index ; and, finally, the papacy committed itself as
"an infallible judge and teacher to the world by
" prefixing to the Index the usual papal bull giving
" its monitions the most solemn papal sanction. To
" teach or even read the works denounced or passages
"condemned was to risk persecution in this world
"and damnation in the next. Science had apparently
"lost the decisive battle" (Vol. I, pp. 137-38).

" Galileo was restrained by force from defending
" himself. Then, too, as if to accumulate proofs of
"the unfitness of the Church to take charge of
"advanced instruction, his salary as a professor at
" the University of Pisa was taken from him, and
" sapping and mining began. Just as the Archbishop
"of Pisa some years before had tried to betray him

THE STORY OF GALILEO 65

"with honeyed words to the Inquisition, so now
" Father Grassi tried it, and, after various attempts
"to draw him out by flattery, suddenly denounced
"his scientific ideas as 'leading to a denial of the
" Real Presence in the Eucharist.'

"For the final assault upon him a park of heavy
"artillery was at last wheeled into place. It may be
" seen on all the scientific battlefields. It consists of
"general denunciation ; and in 1631 Father Melchior
" Inchofer, of the Jesuits, brought his artillery to bear
"upon Galileo with this declaration: 'The opinion
"'of the earth's motion is of all heresies the most
" ' abominable, the most pernicious, the most scan-
" ' dalous ; the immovability of the earth is thrice
" ' sacred ; argument against the immortality of the
" ' soul, the existence of God, and the incarnation
" ' should be tolerated sooner than an argument to
" ' prove that the earth moves ' " (Vol. I, pp. 138-39).

" Again and again His Holiness insisted to all
"comers on the absolute and specific declarations of
" Holy Scripture, which prove that the sun and
" heavenly bodies revolve about the earth, and
"declared that to gainsay them is simply to dispute
" revelation. Certainly, if one ecclesiastic more
"than another ever seemed not under the care of
"the Spirit of Truth, it was Urban VIII in all this
" matter.

" Herein was one of the greatest pieces of ill-fortune
"that has ever befallen the older Church. Had Pope
" Urban been broad-minded and tolerant like Bene-
" diet XIV, or had he been taught moderation by
"adversity like Pius VII, or had he possessed the
" large scholarly qualities of Leo XIII, now reigning,
" the vast scandal of the Galileo case would never have
" burdened the Church ; instead of devising endless

F

66 THE STORY OP GALILEO

"quibbles and special pleadings to escape responsi-
" bility for this colossal blunder, its defenders could
" have claimed forever for the Church the glory of
"fearlessly initiating a great epoch in human
"thought.

" But it was not so to be. Urban was not merely
" Pope ; he was also a prince of the house of Bar-
" berini, and therefore doubly angry that his argu-
" ments had been publicly controverted.

" The opening strategy of Galileo's enemies was to
" forbid the sale of his work ; but this was soon seen
"to be unavailing, for the first edition had already
"been spread throughout Europe. Urban now
" became more angry than ever, and both Galileo
"and his works were placed in the hands of the
" Inquisition. In vain did the good Benedictine
" Castelli urge that Galileo was entirely respectful to
"the Church; in vain did he insist that 'nothing
" ' that can be done can now hinder the earth from
"'revolving.' He was dismissed in disgrace, and
" Galileo was forced to appear in the presence of the
" dread tribunal without defender or adviser. There,
"as was so long concealed, but as is now fully
" revealed, he was menaced with torture again and
"again by express order of Pope Urban, and, as is
"also thoroughly established from the trial documents
"themselves, forced to abjure under threats, and sub-
"jected to imprisonment by command of the Pope,
" the Inquisition deferring in this whole matter to the
" papal authority. All the long series of attempts
" made in the supposed interest of the Church to
" mystify these transactions have at last failed. The
"world knows how that Galileo was subjected cer-
"tainly to indignity, to imprisonment, and to threats
"equivalent to torture, and was at last forced to

THE STORY OF GALILEO 67

" pronounce publicly and on his knees his recanta-
" tion, as follows : —

" ' I, Galileo, being in my seventieth year, being a
"'prisoner and on my knees, and before your Emi-
" ' nences, having before my eyes the Holy Gospel,
" ' which I touch with my hands, abjure, curse, and
" ' detest the error and the heresy of the movement of
" 'the earth.'

" He was vanquished indeed, for he had been forced,
" in the face of all coming ages, to perjure himself.
" To complete his dishonour he was obliged to swear
"that he would denounce to the Inquisition any other
" man of science whom he should discover to be sup-
" porting the ' heresy of the motion of the earth ' "
(Vol. I, pp. 141-42).

"Speaking of Galileo's book, Polacco says that it
"'smacked of Copernicanism,' and that, 'when this
" ' was shown to the Inquisition, Galileo was thrown
" ' into prison and was compelled to utterly abjure the
" ' baseness of this erroneous doctrine ' " (Vol. I,

P- 145)-

" This contention, then, was at last utterly given up
"by honest Catholics themselves. In 1870 a Roman
" Catholic clergyman in England, the Rev. Mr.
" Roberts, evidently thinking that the time had come
" to tell the truth, published a book entitled The
^'Pontifical Decrees against the Earth's Movement,
"and in this exhibited the incontrovertible evidences
"that the papacy had committed itself and its infalli-
" bility fully against the movement of the earth. This
" Catholic clergyman showed from the original record
"that Pope Paul V, in 1616, had presided over the
"tribunal condemning the doctrine of the earth's
" movement, and ordering Galileo to give up the
"opinion. He showed that Pope Urban VIII, in

68 THE STORY OF GALILEO

" 1633, pressed on, directed and promulgated the final
"condemnation, making himself in all these ways
"responsible for it. And, finally, he showed that
" Pope Alexander VII, in 1664, by his bull — Specii-
" latores domus Israel — attached to the Index, con-
"demning ' all books which affirm the rhotion of the
" ' earth,' had absolutely pledged the papal infalli-
"bility against the earth's movement. He also con-
"fessed that under the rules laid down by the highest
" authorities in the Church, and especially by Sixtus V
"and Pius IX, there was no escape from this conclu-
"sion" (Vol. I, p. 165).

RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES

Individual cases of persecution on account of heresy
or unbelief are more easily grasped by the imagina-
tion, but the full horror of Christian intolerance is
seen only when we recall the massacres of whole
populations and the millions who fell in the wars of
religion. It is now estimated that at the most some
two thousand Christians were put to death by the
Roman pagan authorities, and that not, as a rule,
on the ground of religion. It is safe to say that in
the first century of the power of Christianity^the
fourth century — at least twenty times that number
were killed in the violent proceedings against
heretics, schismatics, and pagans ; and from the
fourth century to the eighteenth some scores of
millions were done to death in religious wars,
massacres of heretics, executions for heresy, witch-
hunts, and so on. There is a horrible trail of blood
across the history of Europe from the time when
Constantine became a Christian and the Church was
put in a position to use force. During three hundred
years Christianity had not converted, by argument,
more than a fiftieth part of the Roman Empire. It
conquered the rest by the use of imperial edicts and
soldiers, and during fifteen hundred years it main-
tained its domination by imposing dense ignorance
on the mass of the people and dealing out persecution
or death to those who insisted on thinking.

To cover the whole ground of religious persecution
would be impossible here, and I must be content to

69

70 RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES

give a few characteristic passages. The first is an
extract from the famous historian Motley, whose
Rise of the Dutch Republic describes the attempts
made to maintain this cruel faith in the Nether-
lands : —

" Let them look to it in future, he (the viceroy)
"continued, or he would hang every man in the
" whole city, to set an example to the rest of the
"country; for his Majesty would rather the whole
"land should become an uninhabited wilderness than
" that a single dissenter should exist within its
" territory.

" Events now marched with rapidity. The monarch
"seemed disposed literally to execute the threat of his
"viceroy. Early in the year the most sublime sen-
" tence of death was promulgated which has ever been
"pronounced since the creation of the world. The
" Roman tyrant wished that his enemies' heads were
"all upon a single neck, that he might strike them off
"at a blow; the Inquisition assisted Philip to place
" the heads of all his Netherland subjects upon a
"single neck for the same fell purpose. Upon
" February i6, 1568, a sentence of the Holy Office
" condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands
" to death as heretics. From this universal doom
" only a few persons especially named were excepted.
" A proclamation of the King, dated ten days later,
"confirmed this decree of the Inquisition, and ordered
" it to be carried into instant execution,, without regard
" to age, sex, or condition. This is probably the most
" concise death-warrant that was ever framed. Three
"millions of people — men, women, and children —
" were sentenced to the scaffold in three lines ; and,
" as it was well known that these were not harmless
"thunders, like some bulls of the Vatican, but serious

RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES 71

"and practical measures, which were to be enforced,
"the horror which they produced may be easily
"imagined" (Vol. II, pp. 136-37).

" Men in the highest and the humblest positions
" were daily and hourly dragged to the stake. Alva,
" in a single letter to Philip, coolly estimated the
" number of executions which were to take place
"immediately after the expiration of Holy Week '■at
" ^ eight hundred heads.' Many a citizen, convicted
"of a hundred thousand florins, and of no other
"crime, saw himself suddenly tied to a horse's tail,
" with his hands fastened behind him, and so dragged
" to the gallows. But although wealth was an un-
" pardonable sin, poverty proved rarely a protection.
" Reasons sufficient could always be found for doom-
" ing the starveling labourers as well as the opulent
"burgher. To avoid the disturbances created in the
"streets by the frequent harangues or exhortations
"addressed to the bystanders by the victims on their
" way to the scaffold, a new gag was invented. The
" tongue of each prisoner was screwed into an iron
" ring, and then seared with a hot iron. The swelling
"and inflammation which were the immediate result
" prevented the tongue from slipping through the
"ring, and, of course, effectually precluded all possi-
" bility of speech " (Vol. II, p. 138).

" Between Sunday and Tuesday, according to one
" of the most moderate calculations, five thousand
" Parisians of all ranks were murdered. Within the
"whole kingdom the number of victims was variously
" estimated at from twenty-five thousand to one hun-
" dred thousand. The heart of Protestant Europe, for
" an instant, stood still with horror. The Queen of
" England put on mourning weeds, and spurned the
"apologies of the French envoy with contempt. At

72 RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES

" Rome, on the contrary, the news of the massacre
" created a joy beyond description. The Pope, accom-
" panied by his cardinals, went solemnly to the church
" of Saint Mark to render thanks to God for the grace
"thus singularly vouchsafed to the Holy See and to
"all Christendom ; and a Te Deum was performed in
" presence of the same august assemblage.

" But nothing could exceed the satisfaction which
" the event occasioned in the mind of Philip II.
"There was an end now of all assistance from the
" French Government to the Netherland Protestants.
" ' The news of the events upon Saint Bartholomew's
" ' Day,' wrote the French envoy at Madrid, Saint
" Goard, to Charles IX, 'arrived on September 7.
"'The King, on receiving the intelligence, showed,
" ' contrary to his natural custom, so much gaiety
"'that he seemed more delighted than with all the
" ' good fortune or happy incidents which had ever
" ' before occurred to him. He called all his familiars
" ' about him in order to assure them that your
" ' Majesty was his good brother, and that no one
" ' else deserved the title of Most Christian. He sent
" ' his secretary Cayas to me with his felicitations
" ' upon the event, and with the information that he
" ' was just going to Saint Jerome to render thanks to
" ' God, and to offer his prayers that your Majesty
" ' might receive Divine support in this great affair.
" ' I went to see him next morning ; and as soon as I
" ' came into his presence he began to laugh, and with
" * demonstrations of extreme contentment to praise
"'your Majesty as deserving your title of Most
" ' Christian, telling me there was no King worthy
"'to be your Majesty's companion either for valour
" ^ or prudence. He praised the steadfast resolution
"'and the long dissimulation of so great an enter-

RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES 73

" ' prise, which all the world would not be able to

"'comprehend I thanked him,' continued the

"ambassador, 'and I said that I thanked God for
'"enabling your Majesty to prove to his master
" ' that his apprentice had learned his trade, and
" ' deserved his title of Most Christian King ' "
(Vol. II, pp. 332-33)-

"The army reached Bussem, half-a-league distant
"from Naarden, in the evening. Here Don Frederic
" established his headquarters, and proceeded to invest
" the city. Senator Gerrit was then directed to return
"to Naarden and to bring out a more numerous
"deputation on the following morning, duly em-
" powered to surrender the place. The envoy accord-
" ingly returned next day, accompanied by Lambert
" Hortensius, rector of a Latin academy, together
" with four other citizens. Before this deputation had
"reached Bussem they were met by Julian Romero,
"who informed them that he was commissioned to
" treat with them on the part of Don Frederic. He
"demanded the keys of the city, and gave the depu-
" tation a solemn pledge that the lives and property
"of all the inhabitants should be sacredly respected.
"To attest this assurance, Don Julian gave his hand
" three several times to Lambert Hortensius. A
"soldier's word thus plighted, the commissioners,
" without exchanging any written documents, surren-
" dered the keys, and immediately afterwards accom-
"panied Romero into the city, who was soon followed
" by five or six hundred musketeers.

" To give these guests a hospitable reception, all
"the housewives of the city at once set about prepa-
" rations for a sumptuous feast, to which the Spaniards
"did ample justice, while the colonel and his officers
" were entertained by Senator Gerrit at his own house.

74 RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES

"As soon as this conviviality had come to an end,
" Romero, accompanied by his host, walked into the
"square. The great bell had been meantime ringing,
"and the citizens had been summoned to assemble in
"the Gast Ruis Church, then used as a town hall.
" In the course of a few minutes five hundred had
"entered the building, and stood quietly awaiting
" whatever measures might be offered for their
"deliberation. Suddenly a priest, who had been
"pacing to and fro before the church door, entered
"the building, and bade them all prepare for death ;
"but the announcement, the preparation, and the
"death were simultaneous. The door was flung
" open, and a band of armed Spaniards rushed across
"the sacred threshold. They fired a single volley
" upon the defenceless herd, and then sprang in upon
"them with sword and dagger. A yell of despair
"arose as the miserable victims saw how hopelessly
" they were engaged, and beheld the ferocious faces
"of their butchers. The carnage within that narrow
"space was compact and rapid. Within a few
"minutes all were despatched, and among them
"Senator Gerrit, from whose table the Spanish
"commander had but just risen. The church was
" then set on fire, and the dead and dying were con-
" sumed to ashes together.

"Inflamed but not satiated, the Spaniards then
" rushed into the streets, thirsty for fresh horrors.
"The houses were all rifled of their contents, and
" men were forced to carry the booty to the camp,
" who were then struck dead as their reward. The
" town was then fired in every direction, that the
"skulking citizens might be forced from their hiding-
" places. As fast as they came forth they were put
"to death by their impatient foes. Some were

RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES 75

" pierced with rapiers, some were chopped to pieces
" with axes, some were surrounded in the blazing
"streets by troops of laughing soldiers, intoxicated,
" not with wine, but with blood, who tossed them to
" and fro with their lances, and derived a wild
" amusement from their dying agonies. Those who
"attempted resistance were crimped alive like fishes,
"and left to gasp themselves to death in lingering
" torture. The soldiers, becoming more and more
" insane as the foul work went on, opened the veins
"of some of their victims and drank their blood as if
" it were wine. Some of the burghers were for a
"time spared, that they might witness the violation
" of their wives and daughters, and were then
" butchered in company with those still more unfor-
" tunate victims. Miracles of brutality were accom-
" plished. Neither church nor hearth was sacred.
" Men were slain, women outraged at the altars, in
" the streets, in their blazing homes. The life of
" Lambert Hortensius was spared, out of regard to
" his learning and genius ; but he hardly could thank
" his foes for the boon, for they struck his only son
" dead, and tore his heart out before his father's eyes.
" Hardly any man or woman survived, except by
" accident. A body of some hundred burghers made
" their escape across the snow into the open country.
" They were, however, overtaken, stripped stark
" naked, and hung upon the trees by the feet, to
" freeze, or to perish by a more lingering death.
" Most of them soon died, but twenty, who happened
" to be wealthy, succeeded, after enduring much
"torture, in purchasing their lives of their inhuman
" persecutors. The principal burgomaster, Heinrich
" Lambertszoon, was less fortunate. Known to be
"affluent, he was tortured by exposing the soles of

76 RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES

" his feet to a fire until they were almost consumed.
" On promise that his life should be spared, he then
" agreed to pay a heavy ransom ; but hardly had he
" furnished the stipulated sum when, by express order
" of Don Frederic himself, he was hanged in his own
" doorway, and his dissevered limbs afterwards nailed
" to the gates of the city " (Vol. II, pp. 358-60).

Foxe's Book of Martyrs is an appalling record of
Catholic atrocities, and a few passages from it may
be quoted to show that the action of the Church was
the same in all countries : —

"The legate declared that 'if all the city did not

" ' acknowledge their fault, they should taste of one
" 'curse without distinction of religion, sex, or age.'
" The inhabitants refusing to yield upon such terms,
"a general assault was made and the place taken by
" storm, when every cruelty that barbarous supersti-
" tion could devise was practised ; nothing was to be
" heard but the groans of men who lay weltering in
" their blood ; the lamentations of mothers who, after
" being violated by the soldiery, had their children
" taken from them and dashed to pieces before their
" faces. The city being fired in various parts, new
" scenes of confusion arose ; in several places the
" streets were streaming with blood. Those who hid
"themselves in their dwellings had only the dreadful
"alternative to remain and perish in the flames, or
" rush out and fall by the swords of the soldiers. The
"bloody legate, during these infernal proceedings,
" enjoyed the carnage, and even cried out to the
"troops : ' Kill them, kill them all, kill man, woman,
"'and child; kill Roman Catholics as well as Albi-
" ' genses, for when they are dead the Lord knows
" ' how to select his own.' Thus the beautiful city of
" Bezieres was reduced to a heap of ruins, and 60,000

RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES 77

' persons of different ages and both sexes were mur-
'dered"(p. 138; Milner's edition).

" One of the monks who attended the cardinal dis-
' covered a most inhuman and diaboHcal nature. He
' requested that he might shed some of the blood of
' these poor people with his own hands ; his request
'being granted, the barbarous man took a sharp
' knife and cut the throats of fourscore men, women,
'and children. The four principal men of La Garde
' were hanged, and the clergyman was thrown from
' the top of his church steeple. He was dreadfully
'crushed, but not quite killed by the fall. The
' viceroy, being present, said : ' Is the dog yet living ?
' 'Take him up and cast him to the swine'; and the
' brutal sentence was actually put into execution.
' The monsters, in their hellish thirst of cruelty,
' racked sixty of the women with such a severity that
' the cords pierced their limbs to the bone. They
'were then remanded to prison, where their wounds
' mortified, and they died in the most miserable
' manner. Many others were put to death by various
' means ; and so jealous and arbitrary were these
' monsters that, if any Roman Catholic more compas-
' sionate than the rest interceded for any of the
' reformed, he was immediately apprehended, and
' sacrificed as a favourer of heretics " (p. 245).

" Paul Garnier, a Protestant beloved for his piety,
' had his eyes put out, was then flayed alive, and,
' being divided into four parts, his quarters were
'placed on four of the principal houses of Lucerne"
' (p. 260).

"In the castle of Lisgool upwards of 150 men,
' women, and children were all burnt together ; and at
' the castle of Moneah not less than 100 were all put to
' the sword. Great numbers were also murdered at

78 RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES

"the castle of Tullah, which was delivered up to
" M'Guire on condition of having fair quarter ; but
" no sooner had that base villain got possession of
"the place than he ordered his followers to murder
"the people, which was immediately done with the
" greatest cruelty.

"Several others were put to death in the most
" horrid manner, such as could have been invented
" only by demons in the form of men. Some were
" laid with the centre of their backs on the axle-tree
" of a carriage, with their legs resting on the ground
" on one side, and their arms and head on the other.
" In this position one of the savages scourged the
" wretched object on the thighs and legs, while
" another set on furious dogs who tore to pieces the
" arms and upper parts of the body ; and in this
" dreadful manner were they deprived of their exist-
" ence. Several were fastened to horses' tails, and,
" the beasts being set on full gallop by their riders,
"the wretched victims were dragged along till they
"expired. Many were hung on lofty gibbets, and,
"a fire being kindled under them, they finished their
"lives partly by hanging and partly by burning.
" Nor did the more tender sex escape the fullest share
" of cruelty that could be projected by their merciless
" and furious persecutors. Many women of all ages
" were put to deaths of the most cruel nature. Some
" in particular were fastened with their backs to
" strong posts, and, being stripped to the waists, the
" inhuman monsters cut off their right breasts with
" shears, which of course put them to the most excru-
" dating torments ; and in this position they were
" left till, from the loss of blood, they expired.

"Such was the savage ferocity of these barbarians
" that even unborn infants were dragged from the

The Holy Office in Ireland.

Less than 200 jears ago the greatest possible crime
that one could commit was a negative one — not to
believe some preposterous fable. The illustration shows
some of the many systems of bringing unbelievers to
the true faith. If one had an\' doubt as to the truth of
the fish, the snake, and the pig stories of the Bible, or
refused to believe in talking snakes and jackasses, he
would probably not mention tlie fact of his unbelief
after he had seen some of his fellow-citizens sent below
by the methods shown in this illustration. In those
glorious old days the blacksmiths made a special kind
of shears for cutting off n woman's breast, all of
which was done for the greater glory of God. Would
the Chinese like to see this system introduced into their
own countrv ?

An Attack by Irish Roman Catholics on
Irish Protestants.

The warfare between the two kinds of Christianity
in Ireland has continued for many years, and is not yet
finished. In Liverpool, England, where there are a
large number of Irish Catholics, it lias been found
necessary to close some of the public schools on account
of the street fighting. No country in recent times has
suffered so much from priestcraft as poor old Ireland.

To fait p. 7!?-.

RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES 79

"womb to become victims to their rage. Many
" unhappy mothers were hung naked on the branches
"of trees, and, their bodies being cut open, the
"innocent offspring were taken from them and
"thrown to dogs and swine " (pp. 1,007-8).

"Nine hundred and fifty-four Protestants in the
"county of Antrim were murdered in one morning ;
" and afterwards about twelve hundred more in that
" county. Twenty-four Protestants were forced into
"a house, at a town called Lisnegary, which was
"fired, and they were all burned together, their
"outcries, in derision, being counterfeited by their
" foes. Among other acts of cruelty they took two
"children belonging to an English woman, and
" dashed out their brains before her face ; after which
"they threw the mother into a river, and she was
" drowned. They served many other children in the
" like manner, to the great affliction of their parents
" and the disgrace of human nature.

"All the Protestants in Kilkenny, without excep-
" tion, were put to death, and some of them in so
"cruel a manner as, perhaps, was never before
"thought of. They beat an English female Pro-
" testant with such barbarity that she had scarce a
" whole bone left, after which they threw her into a
" ditch ; but, not satisfied with this, they took her
"child, a girl about six years of age, and, after
" stabbing it, threw it to its mother, there to languish
" till it perished. One man they forced to go to mass,
"after which they ripped open his body, and in that
"manner left him. They sawed another asunder,
"cut the throat of his wife, and, after having dashed
" out the brains of their infant, threw it to the swine,
" who greedily devoured it " (p. 1,009).

I am aware of the fact that some theologians,

So RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES

especially Catholics, ridicule whatever is found in
Foxe's Book of Martyrs. I therefore propose to show
that there is plenty of reliable evidence to prove all
that has been taken from this remarkable work, and
I also intend to prove that the atrocities in Ireland
continued long after the time of Foxe. Some writers
have compared them with the massacre of St. Bar-
tholomew, and have shown that in both cases the
killing and persecuting were approved of and blessed
by the Pope. No one stands higher as a truthful
historian than Froude ; and in his remarkable work,
Ireland in the Eighteenth Century, Vol. I, pp. 107-8,
we find the following : —

" Savage creatures of both sexes, yelping in chorus
" and brandishing their spears ; boys practising their
"young hands in stabbing and torturing the English
" children — these were the scenes that were witnessed
"daily in all parts of Ulster. The fury extended
"even to the farm stock, and sheep and oxen were
" slaughtered, not for food, but in the blindness of

"rage Those who died first were never buried,

" but left to be devoured by dogs, and rats, and swine.
" Some were driven into rivers and drowned, some
" hanged, some mutilated, some ripped with knives.

" The insurgents swore in their madness they

" would not leave English man, woman, or child
"alive in Ireland. They flung babies into boiling
" pots, or tossed them into the ditches to the pigs.
" They put out grown men's eyes, turned them adrift
" to wander, and starved them to death. Two cow-
" boys boasted of having murdered thirty women and
"children, and a lad was heard swearing that his
"arm was so tired with killing that he could not lift
"his hand above his head."

At the time these dreadful events were taking place

RELIGIOUS WARS AND MASSACRES 8i

in Ireland civil war was raging in England. How-
ever, as soon as this was over the Protestants of
England and Scotland went to the aid of their
brethren in Ireland, and these brave defenders of
the Protestant faith nearly annihilated their Catholic
enemies. All that were not killed were put to flight.

It is interesting to note that during these religious
troubles the population of Ireland was reduced by
one-third. Christians slaughtering each other. No
country in the world has suffered more from priest-
craft, and even to-day Ireland is suffering to such an
extent as to make all real progress impossible. Pro-
testants are still being hunted and murdered by
Catholics, property destroyed, cattle maimed ; and
the end is not yet.

When we spread these horrors over all the countries
of Europe during several centuries, we get some idea
of the work of the religion which is said to have
inspired Western civilisation. But we have a wider
field than Europe to consider. Christians took their
barbarous feelings into the New World, and wherever
their soldiers and missionaries penetrated. As Mr.
J. M. Robertson says in his Short History of Chris-
tianity : —

"The misery and the butchery wrought from first
"to last are unimaginable. If the Spanish con-
" quests of Mexico and Peru, with their Church-
" blessed policy of suppressing heathenism, be added
" to the record, the totality of evil becomes appalling ;
"for the Spanish priest Las Casas estimated the total
" destruction of native life at twelve millions " (p. 216).

THE INQUISITION

The crowning iniquity of this barbarous procedure
was the "Holy Inquisition." Here the Church was
directly responsible for the infliction of horrible
torture and death, while the judicial procedure it
followed was of the crudest and most stupid character.
I am aware that the Church left it to the State to do
the actual torturing and killing, and piously recom-
mended its victims to mercy in handing them to the"
civil authorities. This was merely a piece of hypo-
crisy which makes its conduct worse. It would have
found means to make things very uncomfortable for
any civil power which had taken its words seriously
and treated convicted heretics with leniency. A few
extracts will suffice for this abominable institution : —
" Under the influence of Torquemada, a Dominican
" monk, the confessor of Queen Isabella, that princess
" solicited a bull from the Pope for the establishment
" of the Holy Office. A bull was accordingly issued
" in November, 1478, for the detection and suppres-
" sion of heresy. In the first year of the operation of
"the Inquisition, 1481, two thousand victims were
"burnt in Andalusia ; besides these, many thousands
" were dug up from their graves and burnt ; seventeen
"thousand were fined or imprisoned for life. Who-
" ever of the persecuted race could flee escaped for
" his life. Torquemada, now appointed Inquisitor-
" General for Castile and Leon, illustrated his office
" by his ferocity. Anonymous accusations were
" received, the accused was not confronted by

82

The Holy Apostolic Inquisition.

The officials and familiars of the Holy Apostolic
Inquisition made as much display as possible whenever
they had a batch of heretics to burn. The condemned
were dressed in a peculiar way, with conical white caps
on their heads, and with rough pictures of imaginary
devils painted on their garments and caps. Sometimes
as many as two hundred unbelievers were burnt at the
same time. In the illustration it will be observed that
the high officials are leading the procession, and that
the rear is brought up by a large number of the con-
gregation. These burnings were very popular for a
time, and were made the excuse for a ffite day, the whole
affair being treated very much as a bull fight is at the
present time.

St. Francis Xavier was ambitious to establish the
Inquisition in China.

It is interesting to note that the worst and the
wickedest institution ever known to mankind was
called the " .^o/y" Office.

To face p. Sj

THE INQUISITION 83

" witnesses, torture was relied upon for conviction ; it
" was inflicted in vaults where no one could hear the
"cries of the tormented. As, in pretended mercy, it
"was forbidden to inflict torture a second time, with
" horrible duplicity it was affirmed that the torment
"had not been completed at first, but had only been
" suspended out of charity until the following day !
"The families of the convicted were plunged into
" irretrievable ruin. Llorente, the historian of the
" Inquisition, computes that Torquemada and his
"collaborators, in the course of eighteen years, burnt
" at the stake ten thousand two hundred and twenty
" persons, six thousand eight hundred and sixty in
" effigy, and otherwise punished ninety-seven thou-
" sand three hundred and twenty-one. This frantic
" priest destroyed Hebrew Bibles wherever he could
"find them, and burnt six thousand volumes of
" Oriental literature at Salamanca, under an imputa-
" tion that they inculcated Judaism. With unutter-
" able disgust and indignation, we learn that the
" papal government realised much money by selling
"to the rich dispensations to secure them from the
" Inquisition " (Professor John Draper, History of
the Conflict between Religion and Science, pp. 145-46).
" The Inquisition had made the papal system
" irresistible. All opposition must be punished with
"death by fire. A mere thought, without having
" betrayed itself by outward sign, was considered as
" guilt. As time went on, this practice of the
" Inquisition became more and more atrocious.
" Torture was resorted to on mere suspicion. The
" accused was not allowed to know the name of his
" accuser. He was not permitted to have any legal
"adviser. There was no appeal. The Inquisition
" was ordered not to lean to pity. No recantation

84 THE INQUISITION

" was of avail. The innocent family of the accused
" was deprived of its property by confiscation ; half
" went to the papal treasury, half to the inquisitors.
" Life only, said Innocent III, was to be left to the
" sons of misbelievers, and that merely as an act of
" mercy. The consequence was that popes, such as
" Nicolas III, enriched their families through plunder
"acquired by this tribunal. Inquisitors did the same
" habitually" (^Ibid., p. 279).

" In the French province of Languedoc alone the
" man-hunters of the Holy Inquisition spilled more
" human blood than ever reddened the sand of the
" Roman arena. ' But the gladiators died to admln-
" ' ister to a frivolous popular amusement,' says the
"Jesuitical apologist, 'while the mediaeval heretics
" ' were sacrificed to the interests of our revealed
"'faith.' A faith which would undoubtedly tempt
" you to renew the butcheries of your predecessors,
" if you could regain their power ; but, after its
" doctrines have been recognised as a mixture of
"God-insulting idolatries, nature-insulting precepts,
"and reason-insulting superstitions, what remains to
" compensate the world for the lives of the twenty-
" five hundred thousand martyrs of reason and
" freedom whose murder has undoubtedly debased
" the mental type of the human race ? Will sophistry
"dare to mention the elements of natural morality
" which are common to all religions, but which the
"anti-natural dogmas of Christianity crowded into
"the background? Has religion gained by its
"association with the doctrines of a Church that
" made it a synonym of all that is odious and absurd?
"Has the rule of that Church furthered the moral
"progress of the forty generations whose wisest,
" manliest, noblest, and bravest men were syste-

THE INQUISITION 85

" matically weeded out to enforce the survival of
"idiots and hypocrites? For thirteen centuries the
" raclc, the stake, and the cross were leagued against
" nature and mankind " (Felix L. Oswald, The Secret
of the East, p. 58).

" When one speaks of the ' inexhaustible fruitful-
' ' ness in all good things ' of the Catholic Church,
' we remember the horrors and atrocities of the
'Inquisition — the rewards offered by the Roman
' Church for the capture and murder of honest men.
' We remember the Dominican Order, the members
' of which, upheld by the vicar of Christ, pursued the
' heretics like sleuth-hounds through many centuries.
" The Church, ' inexhaustible in fruitfulness in all
"good things,' not only imprisoned and branded
' and burned the living, but violated the dead. It
' robbed graves, to the end that it might convict
'corpses of heresy — to the end that it might take
' from widows their portions, and from orphans their
' patrimony.

" We remember the millions in the darkness of
'dungeons, the millions who perished by the sword,
' the vast multitudes destroyed in flames ; those who
' were flayed alive, those who were blinded ; those
'whose tongues were cut out, those into whose ears
' were poured molten lead ; those whose eyes were
' deprived of their lids ; those who were tortured and
' tormented in every way by which pain could be
' inflicted and human nature overcome " (Ingersoll's
Works, Vol. VI, pp. 354-55).

WITCHCRAFT

One branch of the work of the Inquisitors was to
seek and denounce witches — a superstition that we
can hardly understand in modern times unless we
have seen something of the childish beliefs and
practices among such primitive peoples as the Zulus.
The world was supposed to be full of legions and
devils playing tricks upon men ; and it was somehow
believed that these devils chose to enter into the
closest co-operation with aged and ugly women,
and worked evil through them. In what are called
the " heathen " days of our ancestors it was believed
that woman was especially inspired by the gods, and
the greatest respect was paid to her. Under Chris-
tianity, which is supposed to have elevated woman,
this old belief was suppressed, and a contempt of
woman substituted for it. In consequence, when
some aged woman showed more wisdom than her
ignorant neighbours, she was at once suspected of
dealing with the devil, and called a witch. Vast
numbers of innocent women suffered torture and lost
their lives on that account.

Professor Andrew D. White has many pages on
this subject in his Warfare of Science with Theology,
and I will quote a few : —

" Pope Eugene IV, by virtue of the teaching power
" conferred on him by the Almighty, and under the
" divine guarantee against any possible error in the
" exercise of it, issued a bull exhorting the inquisitors
"of heresy and witchcraft to use greater diligence

86

WITCHCRAFT 87

" against the human agents of the Prince of Darkness,
"and especially against those who have the power
"to produce bad weather. In 1445 Pope Eugene
" returned again to the charge, and again issued
"instructions and commands infallibly committing
" the Church to the doctrine. But a greater than
" Eugene followed, and stamped the idea yet more
" deeply into the mind of the Church. On the 7th of
" December, 1484, Pope Innocent VIII sent forth his
" bull Summis Desiderantes. Of all documents ever
" issued from Rome, imperial or papal, this has
"doubtless, first and last, cost the greatest shedding
"of innocent blood. Yet no document was ever
" more clearly dictated by conscience. Inspired by
"the scriptural command, 'Thou shalt not suffer a
"'witch to live,' Pope Innocent exhorted the clergy
" of Germany to leave no means untried to detect
" sorcerers, and especially those who by evil weather
" destroy vineyards, gardens, meadows, and growing
" crops. These precepts were based upon various
" texts of Scripture, especially upon the famous state-
" ment in the Book of Job ; and, to carry them out,
" witch-finding inquisitors were authorised by the
" Pope to scour Europe, especially Germany, and a
" manual was prepared for their use — the Witch-
" hammer. Malleus Maleficarum. In this manual,
"which was revered for centuries, both in Catholic
" and Protestant countries, as almost divinely inspired,
" the doctrine of Satanic agency in atmospheric pheno-
" mena was further developed, and various means of
" detecting and punishing it were dwelt upon.

" With the application of torture to thousands of
" women, in accordance with the precepts laid down
" in the Malleus, it was not difficult to extract masses
" of proof for this sacred theory of meteorology. The

WITCHCRAFT

" poor creatures, writhing on the rack, held in horror
" by those who had been nearest and dearest to them,
"anxious only for death to relieve their sufferings,
"confessed to anything and everything that would
"satisfy the inquisitors and judges. All that was
" needed was that the inquisitors should ask leading
" questions and suggest satisfactory answers ; the
" prisoners, to shorten the torture, were sure sooner
" or later to give the answer required, even though
" they knew that this would send them to the stake or
"scaffold. Under the doctrine of 'excepted cases'
" there was no limit to torture for persons accused of
" heresy or witchcraft ; even the safeguards which the
"old pagan world had imposed upon torture were
" thus thrown down, and the prisoner must confess.

" The theological literature of the Middle Ages was
"thus enriched with numberless statements regarding
" modes of Satanic influence on the weather. Pathetic
" indeed are the records, and none more so than the
" confessions of these poor creatures, chiefly women
" and children, during hundreds of years, as to their
" manner of raising hailstorms and tempests. Such
" confessions, by tens of thousands, are still to be
"found in the judicial records of Germany, and,
"indeed, of all Europe. Typical among these is
"one on which great stress was laid during ages,
" and for which the world was first indebted to one of
" these poor women. Crazed by the agony of torture,
"she declared that, returning with a demon through
" the air from the witches' sabbath, she was dropped
" upon the earth in the confusion which resulted
"among the hellish legions when they heard the
"bells sounding the Ave Maria. It is sad to note
"that, after a contribution so valuable to sacred
"science, the poor woman was condemned to the

WITCHCRAFT 89

" flames. This revelation speedily ripened the belief
" that whatever might be going on at the witches'
" sabbath — no matter how triumphant Satan might be
" — at the moment of sounding the consecrated bells
" the Satanic power was paralysed. This theory once
" started, proofs came in to support it, during a hun-
" dred years, from the torture-chambers in all parts of
"Europe" (Vol. I, pp. 351-53)-

" A Dr. Fian, while his legs were crushed in the
" ' boots ' and wedges were driven under his finger-
" nails, confessed that several hundred witches had
" gone to sea in a sieve from the port of Leith, and
" had raised storms and tempests to drive back the
" princess.

"With the coming in of the Puritans the persecu-
" tion was even more largely, systematically, and
" cruelly developed. The great witch-finder, Matthew
" Hopkins, having gone through the county of Suffolk
" and tested multitudes of poor old women by piercing
" them with pins and needles, declared that county to
"be infested with witches. Thereupon Parliament
" issued a commission, and sent two eminent Presby-
" terian divines to accompany it, with the result that
" in that county alone sixty persons were hanged for
"witchcraft in a single year. In Scotland matters
" were even worse. The auto da fe of Spain was
"celebrated in Scotland under another name, and
" with Presbyterian ministers instead of Roman
" Catholic priests as the main attendants. At Leith,
"in 1664, nine women were burned together. Con-
" demnations and punishments of women in batches
" were not uncommon. Torture was used far more
"freely than in England, both in detecting witches
"and in punishing them. The natural argument
" developed in hundreds of pulpits was this : If the

90 WITCHCRAFT

" All-wise God punishes his creatures with tortures
" infinite in cruelty and duration, why should not his
" ministers, as far as they can, imitate him?" (Vol. I,
pp. 360-61).

" In 1437, and again in 1445, Pope Eugene IV
' issued bulls exhorting inquisitors to be more
'diligent in searching out and delivering over to
' punishment magicians and witches who produced
' bad weather, the result being that persecution
' received a fearful impulse. But the worst came
' forty years later still, when, in 1484, there came
'the yet more terrible bull of Pope Innocent VIII,
' known as Summis Desiderantes, which let inquisi-
' tors loose upon Germany, with Sprenger at their
' head, armed with the Witch-Hammer, the fearful
' manual Malleus Maleficaru?n, to torture and destroy
' men and women by tens of thousands for sorcery
'and magic. Similar bulls were issued in 1504 by
'Julius II, and in 1523 by Adrian VI.

" The system of repression thus begun lasted for
' hundreds of years. The Reformation did little to
' change it ; and in Germany, where Catholics and
' Protestants vied with each other in proving their
' orthodoxy, it was at its worst. On German soil
' more than one hundred thousand victims are
' believed to have been sacrificed to it between the
' middle of the fifteenth and the middle of the six-
' teenth centuries " (Vol. I, p. 385).

" In Germany its development was especially
' terrible. From the middle of the sixteenth cen-
' tury to the middle of the seventeenth Catholic and
' Protestant theologians and ecclesiastics vied with
'each other in detecting witches guilty of producing
' sickness or bad weather ; women were sent to
' torture and death by thousands, and with them,

WITCHCRAFT 91

"from time to time, men and children. On the
" Catholic side sufficient warrant for this work was
"found in the bull of Pope Innocent VIII, and the
" bishops' palaces of south Germany became shambles,
"the lordly prelates of Salzburg, Wurzburg, and
" Bamburg taking the lead in this butchery.

" In north Germany Protestantism was just as con-
"scientiously cruel. It based its theory and practice
"towards witches directly upon the Bible, and above
"all on the great text which has cost the lives of so
"many myriads of innocent men, women, and chil-
" dren : 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.'
"Naturally, the Protestant authorities strove to show
" that Protestantism was no less orthodox in this
"respect than Catholicism " (Vol. II, p. 75).

"One morning in the year 1630 an old woman,
"looking out of her window, saw a man walking
"along the street and wiping his fingers upon the
"walls; she immediately called the attention of
"another old woman, and they agreed that this man
" must be one of the diabolical anointers. It was
" perfectly evident to a person under ordinary condi-
"tions that this unfortunate man was simply trying
"to remove from his fingers the ink gathered while
"writing from the ink-horn which he carried in his
" girdle ; but this explanation was too simple to
"satisfy those who first observed him or those who
"afterwards tried him ; a mob was raised, and he was
"thrown into prison. Being tortured, he at first did
" not know what to confess ; but, on inquiring from
" the jailer and others, he learned what the charge
" was, and, on being again subjected to torture utterly
"beyond endurance, he confessed everything which
" was suggested to him ; and, on being tortured again
"and again to give the names of his accomplices, he

92 WITCHCRAFT

" accused, at hazard, the first people in the city whom
"he thought of. These, being arrested and tortured
"beyond endurance, confessed and implicated a still
" greater number, until members of the foremost
" families were included in the charge. Again and
"again all these unfortunates were tortured beyond
"endurance. Under paganism, the rule regarding
" torture had been that it should not be carried beyond
" human endurance ; and we therefore find Cicero
" ridiculing it as a means of detecting crime, because
"a stalwart criminal of strong nerves might resist it
"and go free, while a physically delicate man, though
"innocent, would be forced to confess. Hence it was
" that under paganism a limit was imposed to the
"torture which could be administered; but, when
" Christianity had become predominant throughout
" Europe, torture was developed with a cruelty never
" before known. There had been evolved a doctrine
" of ' excepted cases '—these ' excepted cases ' being
"especially heresy and witchcraft — for by a very
"simple and logical process of theological reasoning
" it was held that Satan would give supernatural
" strength to his special devotees — that is, to heretics
"and witches — and therefore that in dealing with them
"there should be no limit to the torture. The result
" was in this particular case, as in tens of thousands
" besides, that the accused confessed everything which
"could be suggested to them, and often in the
" delirium of their agony confessed far more than all
"that the zeal of the prosecutors could suggest.
" Finally, a great number of worthy people were sen-
" tenced to the most cruel death which could be
" invented. The records of their trials and deaths are
"frightful. The treatise which in recent years has
" first brought to light in connected form an authentic

WITCHCRAFT 93

"account of the proceedings in this affair, and which
" gives at the end engravings of the accused subjected
" to horrible tortures on their way to the stalce and at
" the place of execution itself, is one of the most
" fearful monuments of theological reasoning and
" human folly.

" To cap the climax, after a poor apothecary had
" been tortured into a confession that he had made the
" magic ointment, and when he had been put to death
"with the most exquisite refinements of torture, his
" family were obliged to take another name, and were
" driven out from the city ; his house was torn down,
"and on its site was erected 'The Column of Infamy,'
" which remained on this spot until, towards the end of
"the eighteenth century, a party of young radicals,
"probably influenced by the reading of Beccaria,
"sallied forth one night and levelled this pious monu-
" ment to the ground " (Vol. II, pp. 76-77)-

The same author, in referring to witchcraft in

America, says : —

" One poor woman was charged with ' giving a look
" ' towards the great meeting house of Salem, and
"'immediately a demon entered the house and tore
" ' down a part of it.' This cause for the falling of a
"bit of poorly nailed wainscoting seemed perfectly
" satisfactory to Dr. Cotton Mather, as well as to the
"judge and jury, and she was hanged, protesting her
"innocence" (Vol. II, p. 150).

"Everything was made to contribute to the ortho-
"dox view of possession. On one occasion, when a
"cart conveying eight condemned persons to the
" place of execution stuck fast in the mire, some of
"the possessed declared that they saw the devil
" trying to prevent the punishment of his associates "
(Vol. fl, p. 150-

94 WITCHCRAFT

" Of late years such cases have been treated in
" France with much shrewdness. When, about the
" middle of the present century, the Arab priests in
" Algiers tried to arouse fanaticism against the
" French Christians by performing miracles, the
"French Government, instead of persecuting the
"priests, sent Robert-Houdin, the most renowned
"juggler of his time, to the scene of action, and for
"every Arab miracle Houdin performed two ; did an
" Arab marabout turn a rod into a serpent, Houdin
"turned his rod into two serpents, and after-
" wards showed the people how he did it" (Vol. II,

P- 155)-

Dr. Paul Carus gives a detailed account of an
individual case : —

"Consider only the fiendish details of the torture
"applied to a woman in the year 1631 on the first
"day of her trial: (i) The hangman binds the
"woman, who was pregnant, and places her on the
" rack. Then he racked her till her heart would fain
" break, but had no compassion. (2) When she did
" not confess the torture was repeated, the hangman
" tied her hands, cut off her hair, poured brandy over
"her head, and burned it. (3) He placed sulphur in
" her armpits and burned it. (4) Her hands were
" tied behind her, and she was hauled up to the
"ceiling and suddenly dropped down. (5) This
" hauling up and dropping down was repeated for
"some hours, until the hangman and his helpers
"went to dinner. (6) When they returned the
"master-hangman tied her feet and hands upon her
" back ; brandy was poured on her back and burned.
" (7) Then heavy weights were placed on her back
"and she was pulled up. (8) After this she was
"again stretched on the rack. (9) A spiked board

WITCHCRAFT 95

" is placed on her back, and she is again hauled up
"to the ceiling. (10) The master again ties her feet
" and hangs on them a block of fifty pounds, which
"makes her think that her heart will burst. (11)
" This proved insufficient ; therefore the master unties
" her feet and fixes her legs in a vice, tightening the
"jaws until the blood oozes out at the toes. (12)
" Nor was this sufficient ; therefore she was stretched
"and pinched again in various ways. (13) Now the
" hangman of Dreissigacker began the third grade
"of torture. When he placed her on the bench and
" put the ' shirt ' on her, he said : ' I do not take you
" ' for one, two, three, not for eight days, nor for a
" 'few weeks, but for half a year or a year, for your
" 'whole life, until you confess ; and if you will not
" ' confess, I shall torture you to death, and you shall
" 'be burned after all.' (14) The hangman's son-in-
"law hauled her up to the ceiling by her hands.
"(15) The hangman of Dreissigacker whipped her
"with a horsewhip. (16) She was placed in a vice,
" where she remained for six hours. (17) After that
" she was again mercilessly horsewhipped. This
" was all that was done on the first day " {History of
the Devil, pp. 330-31).

" The Inquisitor Hugo de Beniols had a number
"of prominent people burned alive at Toulouse in
" 1275, among them Angele, Lady of Labarthe, a
" woman of sixty-five years, accused of sexual inter-
" course with Satan. It is stated that she had borne
"a monster with a wolf's head and a serpent's tail,
" whose sole food consisted of babies. Under the
" rule of Charles IV the ill-famed Bastile was built,
" because the prisons no longer sufficed to hold the
"indicted heretics" {Ibid., pp. 314-15).

Anyone could be made to confess anything by the

96 WITCHCRAFT

professional torturer, notwithstanding that confession
meant being burnt alive : —

The hangmen took pride in their profession, and
" regarded themselves as disgraced if they could not
"make their victims confess whatever the inquisitors
" wanted. Their usual threat, when a heretic, a
"wizard, or a witch was handed over to them, was :
" ' You will be tortured until you are so thin that
" ' the sun will shine through you.' The instruments
" look horrible enough, but the practice was more
" horrible than the wildest imagination can depict "
{Ibid., p. 330).

The distinguished historian, Mr. W. E. H. Lecky,
who was certainly not biassed against Christianity,
may next be quoted. In his Rise and Influence of
Rationalism he says : —

" When we read the nature of these tortures, which
" were worthy of an Oriental imagination ; when we
" remember that they were inflicted, for the most
"part, on old and feeble and half-doting women, it
" is difficult to repress a feeling of the deepest
"abhorrence for those men who caused and who
" encouraged them. If the witch was obdurate, the
" first, and it was said the most effectual, method of
"obtaining confession was by what was termed
"' waking her.' An iron bridle or hoop was bound
" across her face with four prongs, which were thrust
" into her mouth. It was fastened behind to the wall
"by a chain, in such a manner that the victim was
" unable to lie down ; and in this position she was
" sometimes kept for several days, while men were
" constantly with her to prevent her from closing her
" eyes for a moment in sleep. Partly in order to
" effect this object, and partly to discover the insen-
" sible mark which was the sure sign of a witch, long

WITCHCRAFT 97

"pins were thrust into her body. At the same time,
"as it was a saying in Scotland that a witch would
" never confess while she could drink, excessive thirst
"was often added to her tortures. Some prisoners
" have been waked for five nights ; one, it is said,
" even for nine.

"The physical and mental suffering of such a
" process was sufficient to overcome the resolution of
" many, and to distract the understanding of not a
" few. But other and perhaps worse tortures were in
" reserve. The three principal that were habitually
"applied were the pennywinkis, the boots, and the
" caschielawis. The first was a kind of thumbscrew ;
"the second was a frame in which the leg was
" inserted, and in which it was broken by wedges,
" driven in by a hammer ; the third was also an iron
"frame for the leg, which was from time to time
"heated over a brazier. Fire-matches were some-
" times applied to the body of the victim. We read
" in a contemporary legal register of one man who
" was kept for forty-eight hours in ' vehement torture '
" in the caschielawis ; and of another who remained
" in the same frightful machine for eleven days and
"eleven nights, whose legs were broken daily for
"fourteen days in the boots, and who was so scourged
"that the whole skin was torn from his body"
(R. P. A. ed. ; pp. 47-48)-

" An Earl of Mar (who appears to have been the only
" person sensible of the inhumanity of the proceedings)
" tells how, with a piercing yell, some women once
" broke half-burnt from the slow fire that consumed
" them, struggled for a few moments with despairing
" energy among the spectators, but soon, with shrieks
" of blasphemy and wild protestations of innocence,
" sank writhing in agony amid the flames " (p. 48)-

98 WITCHCRAFT

"Such were the opinions of the greatest of the
" Reformers. The doctrine of Calvin and his school
"was equally explicit. According to them, the
" Fall, with all its consequences, was predetermined
"ages before the Creation, and was the necessary
"consequence of that predetermination. The
"Almighty, they taught, irrevocably decided the
"fate of each individual long before He called him
" into existence, and has predestined millions to His
"hatred and to eternal damnation. With that object
" He gave them being ; with that object He with-
" holds from them the assistance that alone can correct
" the perversity of the nature with which He created
"them. He will hate them during life, and after
"death He will cast them into the excruciating
"torments of undying fire, and will watch their
" agonies without compassion through the countless
" ages of eternity " (p. 141).

Ingersoll frequently deals with this abominable
perversion of Christian sentiment in the Middle Ages,
and even down to the threshold of modern times. I
will quote a few short passages from his works on
the subject : —

"A woman was tried and convicted before Sir
"Matthew Hale, one of the great judges and lawyers
" of England, for having caused children to vomit
"crooked pins. She was also charged with having
"nursed devils. The learned judge charged the
" intelligent jury that there was no doubt as to the
" existence of witches ; that it was established by all
"history, and expressly taught by the Bible.

" The woman was hanged and her body burned.

" Sir Thomas More declared that to give up witch-
" craft was to throw away the sacred Scriptures. In
" my judgment, he was right.

WITCHCRAFT 99

"John Wesley was a firm believer in ghosts and
"witches, and insisted upon it years after all laws
" upon the subject had been repealed in England. I
" beg of you to remember that John Wesley was the
" founder of the Methodist Church.

" In New England a woman was charged with
"being a witch, and with having changed herself
" into a fox. While in that condition she was attacked
"and bitten by some dogs. A committee of three
" men, by order of the court, examined this woman.
" They removed her clothing, and searched for ' witch
" ' spots ' — that is to say, spots into which needles
"could be thrust without giving her pain. They
" reported to the court that such spots were found.
" She denied, however, that she ever had changed
" herself into a fox. Upon the report of the com-
" mittee she was found guilty and actually executed.
"This was done by our Puritan fathers, by the
" gentlemen who braved the dangers of the deep for
" the sake of worshipping God and persecuting their
"fellow-men " (IngersoU's Works, Vol. I, pp. 274-76).
" People were burned for causing frosts in summer,
" for destroying crops with hail, for causing storms,
" for making cows go dry, and even for souring beer.
" There was no impossibility for which someone was
"not tried and convicted. The life of no one was
" secure. To be charged was to be convicted. Every
" man was at the mercy of every other. This in-
" famous belief was so firmly seated in the minds of
"the people that to express a doubt as to its truth
" was to be suspected. Whoever denied the existence
" of witches and devils was denounced as an infidel "
(Ibid., pp. 276-77).

"At Basle, in 1470, a rooster was tried upon the
" charge of having laid an egg. Rooster eggs were

WITCHCRAFT

" used only in making witch ointment ; this every-
" body knew. The rooster was convicted, and, with
"all due solemnity, was burned in the public square "
(Ihid., p. 277).

"Sir William Blackstone, in his Commentaries
" on the Laws of England, says : ' To deny the
" ' possibility — nay, actual existence — of witchcraft
" ' and sorcery is at once flatly to contradict the word
"'ofGod"'(/^'/fi?., p. 279).

" In Brown's Dictionary of the Bible, published at
"Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1807, it is said that 'a
" ' witch is a woman that has dealings with Satan ' "
{Ibid., p. 279).

" In 1716 Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, nine years
" of age, were hanged for selling their souls to the
" devil, and raising a storm by pulling off their
"stockings and making a lather of soap.

"In England it has been estimated that at least
" thirty thousand were hanged and burned. The last
"victim executed in Scotland perished in 1722. 'She
" ' was an innocent old woman who had so little idea
" ' of her situation as to rejoice at the sight of the
"' fire which was destined to consume her'" {Ibid.,
p. 280).

"In 1692 nineteen persons were executed and one
"pressed to death in Salem, Massachusetts, for the
" crime of witchcraft.

"It was thought in those days that men and women
" made compacts with the devil, orally and in writing ;
"that they abjured God and Jesus Christ, and dedi-
" cated themselves wholly to the devil. The contracts
" were confirmed at a general meeting of witches and
" ghosts, over which the devil himself presided ; and
" the persons generally signed the articles of agree-
" ment with their own blood " {Ibid., pp. 280-81).

WITCHCRAFT

" As late as 1815 Belgium was disgraced by a witch
" trial, and guilt was established by the water ordeal.

" In 1836 the populace of Hela, near Dantzic,

" twice plunged into the sea a woman reputed to be
"a sorceress ; and as the miserable creature persisted
" in rising to the surface, she was pronounced guilty
"and beaten to death " {Ibid., p. 281).

" Whoever denied these things was denounced as
" an infidel. All the believers in witchcraft confi-
" dently appealed to the Bible. Their mouths were
" filled with passages demonstrating the existence of
" witches and their power over human beings. By
"the Bible they proved that innumerable evil spirits
" were ranging over the world endeavouring to ruin
"mankind" {Ibid., p. 282).

" Religion has not civilised man ; man has civilised
"religion. God improves as man a.Ava.ncts" {Ibid. ,
p. 285).

THE BURNING OF JOAN OF ARC

It has been said by philosophers that a belief in the
existence of devils — that is, Demonology — is the most
debasing of all superstitions ; and I think that this is
sufificiently proved in the case of the persecution and
burning to death of that incomparable woman, Joan
of Arc. It is extremely difficult for those who do not
believe in the existence of ghosts and devils to under-
stand how it can be possible for one human being to
gloat over the inhuman torture of another. Never-
theless, it is only too true ; and, as we find it only
among those who are believers in the existence of
devils, I think we are justified in assuming that this
unspeakable depravity is due in a large measure to
Demonology.

Joan of Arc was, in many respects, the most
remarkable and wonderful personality that ever
appeared upon this planet. She was a young and
innocent girl, acting as a shepherdess for her father.
She took a burning interest in the affairs of her
country, and felt that she was called upon to
liberate it by driving out the invader. She fully
believed that she was urged on by some occult or
spiritual influence, and was sufficiently eloquent
and persuasive to make others take the same view
of the matter. Totally inexperienced in all the affairs
of the world, but burning with the fire of patriot-
ism, she inspired others with her own feelings and
beliefs, and was actually given command of an army,
led her troops against the enemy, and drove them out

THE BURNING OF JOAN OF ARC 103

of the country, placing the King on his throne. This
was certainly a marvellous achievement, and she was
looked upon by many at the time as a celestial
liberator. Her wit and intelligence appeared
to the high officials of the Roman Catholic
Church to be altogether beyond the power of a
simple country maiden, and the only way they
could account for her wonderful success was to
assume that she was assisted by the devil.

It is a long story. The poor girl was arrested,
and under threat of instantly being burnt alive she
was bullied into putting her mark on a paper,
although completely ignorant of its contents. In
this paper she was made to confess that she was
in the employ of the devil ; that she was a sorceress,
a liar, a blasphemer of God and his angels, a lover
of blood, a promoter of sedition ; cruel, wicked,
commissioned by Satan, etc., etc.

The instigator of all this and the persecutor of this
poor girl was no less a personage than Bishop
Cauchon (Bishop Tiger would have been a more
appropriate name). This fellow appears to have
been one of the most contemptible and degraded
scoundrels that ever disgraced this earth. After
all manner of lying and trickery, he brought
this extraordinary girl to the stake, and had the
effrontery to taunt her while she was perishing in the
flames.

Can we conceive of anything that for wickedness
and depravity could equal this? A full account of
the persecution and burning of this the greatest of
all women will be found in the memorable work
entitled Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, edited
by Mark Twain, in two volumes. A few extracts are
given below : —

I04 THE BURNING OF JOAN OF ARC

"And so, weeping, and with her cross to her lips,
"she climbed up the cruel steps to the face of the
"stake, with the friar Isambard at her side. Then
" she was helped up to the top of the pile of wood that
" was built around the lower third of the stake, and
" stood upon it with her back against the stake, and
"the world gazing up at her, breathless. The execu-
" tioner ascended to her side, and wound chains about
" her slender body, and so fastened her to the stake.
" Then he descended to finish his dreadful office ; and
" there she remained alone — she that had had so many
"friends in the days when she was free, and had been
" so loved and so dear " (Vol. 11, p. 264).

" If any thought that now, in that solemn hour
" when all transgressors repent and confess, she
"would revoke her revocation and say her great
" deeds had been evil deeds and Satan and his friends
"their source, they erred. No such thought was in
"her blameless mind. She was not thinking of her-
" self and her troubles, but of others and of woes that
" might befall them. And so, turning her grieving
" eyes about her, where rose the towers and spires of
" that fair city, she said : —

" ' Oh, Rouen, Rouen ! must I die here, and must
"'you be my tomb? Ah, Rouen, Rouen, I have
" ' great fear that you will suffer for my death ! '

" A whiff of smoke swept upward past her face, and
" for one moment terror seized her, and she cried out :
" ' Water ! Give me holy water ! ' But the next
"moment her fears were gone, and they came no
" more to torture her.

"She heard the flames crackling below her, and
"immediately distress for a fellow creature who was
" in danger took possession of her. It was the friar
" Isambard. She had given him her cross, and

The Bupning of Joan of Are by the Officials
of the Roman Catholic Church.

When F"rance was in a sea of trouble with the invaders
on her shores, the most remarkable woman that ever
appeared on this planet made her appearance at Rouen,
and, strange as it may appear, she took command of the
French army, drove the invaders out of France, and
placed the king on his throne. For a time she was
looked upon as a celestial deliverer. According to the
Roman Catholic way of thinking, she did altogether too
much for a human being, especially for a young girl ;
and they could account for it only on the supposition
that she was assisted by the Devil himself.

The poor girl was bullied into signing a paper vi'hich
she did not understand, confessing that she was in
league with the Devil, a sorceress, a liar, a. blasphemer
of God, a lover of blood, a promoter of sedition, cruel,
and, in fact, everything that was wicked and con-
temptible. For these invented crimes Joan of Arc, of
iinmortal memory, was burnt alive. No greater crime
was ever committed by mankind on this earth.

Demonology — a belief In the existence of devils— is,
without doubt, the most debasing form of superstition
that has ever aftlicted this world of ours. No other
theological dogma has been able to make such ferocious
and wicked monsters of mankind.

[This fine illustration is by IVIr. George A. Stevens,
a very able young English artist. j

To face p 104.

THE BURNING OF JOAN OF ARC

"begged him to raise it towards her face, and let
" her eyes rest in hope and consolation upon it till
" she was entered into the peace of God. She made
" him go out from the danger of the fire. Then she
" was satisfied, and said : —

" ' Now keep it always in my sight until the end.'

" Not even yet could Cauchon, that man without
"shame, endure to let her die in peace, but went
"towards her, all black with crimes and sins as he
" was, and cried out : —

" ' I am come, Joan, to exhort you, for the last time,
" ' to repent and seek the pardon of God.'

" ' I die through you,' she said ; and these were the
" last words she spoke to any upon earth.

"Then the pitchy smoke, shot through with red
" flashes of flame, rolled up in a thick volume and hid
" her from sight ; and from the heart of this darkness
" her voice rose strong and eloquent in prayer ; and
" when by moments the wind shredded somewhat of
" the smoke aside, there were veiled glimpses of an
" upturned face and moving lips. At last a mercifully
" swift tide of flame burst upward, and none saw that
"face any more, nor that form, and the voice was
"still.

" Yes, she was gone from us — Joan of Arc !
" What little words they are, to tell of a rich world
"made empty and poor ! " (Vol. II, pp. 264-66).

"Now as to the Rehabilitation. Joan crowned the
" King at Rheims. For reward he allowed her to be
"hunted to her death without making one effort to
"save her. During the next twenty-three years he
" remained indifferent to her memory ; indifferent to
"the fact that her good name was under a damning
"blot put there by the priests because of the deeds
" which she had done in saving him and his sceptre ;

io6 THE BURNING OF JOAN OF ARC

" indifferent to the fact that France was ashamed, and
"longed to have the Deliverer's fair name restored.
" Indifferent all that time. Then he suddenly changed,
"and was anxious to have justice for poor Joan him-
"self. Why? Had he become grateful at last? Had
" remorse attacked his hard heart ? No, he had a
" better reason — a better one for his sort of man.
"This better reason was that, now that the English
"had been finally expelled from the country, they
" were beginning to call attention to the fact that this
" King had gotten his crown by the hands of a person
" proved by the priests to have been in league with
" Satan, and burnt for it by them as a sorceress ;
" therefore, of what value or authority was such a
"kingship as that? Of no value at all; no nation
"could afford to allow such a king to remain on the
" throne " (Vol. H, pp. 268-69).

" It was beautiful to hear the Duke d'Alencon
" praise Joan's splendid capacities as a general, and
" to hear the Bastard endorse these praises with his
" eloquent tongue, and then go on and tell how sweet
" and good Joan was, and how full of pluck and fire
"and impetuosity, and mischief, and mirthfulness,
"and tenderness, and compassion, and everything
" that was pure and fine and noble and lovely. He
" made her live again before me, and wrung my
" heart.

" I have finished my story of Joan of Arc, that
" wonderful child, that sublime personality, that spirit
" which in one regard has had no peer, and will have
" none — this : its purity from all alloy of seek-seeking,
"self-interest, personal ambition. In it no trace of
" these motives can be found, search as you may, and
" this cannot be said of any other person whose name
" appears in profane history.

THE BURNING OF JOAN OF ARC 107

" With Joan of Arc love of country was more than
"a sentiment — it was a passion. She was the Genius
" of Patriotism ; she was Patriotism embodied, con-
"creted, made flesh, and palpable to the touch and
" visible to the eye.

"Love, Mercy, Charity, Fortitude, War, Peace,
" Poetry, Music — these may be symbolised as any
" shall prefer : by figures of either sex and of any
"age; but a slender girl in her first young bloom,
" with the martyr's crown upon her head, and in her
" hand the sword that severed her country's bonds —
" shall not this, and no other, stand for Patriotism
"through all the ages until time shall end?" (Vol. II,
pp. 270-71).

CROSSNESS AND SUPERSTITION IN
THE MIDDLE AGES

The missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, are
never tired of telling us of the dreadful wickedness
and immorality of the Chinese. They would have us
believe that infanticide is the rule, instead of the
exception, in that country. We have been told that
the Chinese throw their babies to the swine to be
devoured ; but this has been proved, over and over
again, to be absolutely false, as will later be shown in
this work. There is, however, evidence that Roman
Catholics have cast the babies of Protestants to the
swine, by whom they were devoured. There is
probably more infanticide in England, with a popula-
tion of about thirty millions, than in the whole of
China, with its four hundred million inhabitants.
This is especially true since the monks and nuns
have been driven out of Continental countries and
have settled in England. I quote the following
from the Daily Telegraph of January i6, 1865 : —

" A correspondent, referring to the digging of a
"foundation for foundries for Crawshaw and Co. on
" the site of an old convent, said that the working men
" came upon the skeletons of no less than 800 infants ;
" and it is asserted that ' the Mayor was apprised of
" ' the fact, and came and had all the remains collected
" 'and buried privately in a cemetery.' "

Numbers of similar cases have been reported in
Germany and elsewhere on the Continent. The
medieval writers are, however, agreed that monasteries

108

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES 109

and nunneries were generally corrupt all over
Europe until the Reformation, and in Catholic
countries until long after that date. We can imagine
the grossness of the general population if this was
the condition of the "homes of sanctity." Dense
ignorance, gross superstition, cruelty, fanaticism, and
open immorality were conspicuous characteristics of
Europe during the thousand years in which the
Christian Church had supreme authority over it, body
and soul. Nor did this state of things end with the
Reformation, as some of the following extracts will
show. It is only the rationalist and humanitarian
spirit of modern times, beginning in the eighteenth
century, that has put an end to the horrors of the
Middle Ages.

The first series of extracts I give are from Buckle's
History of Civilisation in England (1878). It will be
noted that truth was a total stranger to priestly
history ; the truth was not good enough : —

" In the Chronicle of Turpin we are informed that
"the invasion of Spain by Charlemagne took place
" in consequence of the direct instigation of St. James,
"the brother of St. John. The apostle, being the
" cause of the attack, adopted measures to secure its
"success. When Charlemagne besieged Pamplona
" that city made an obstinate resistance ; but as soon
" as prayers were offered up by the invaders the walls
" suddenly fell to the ground. After this the Emperor
" rapidly overran the whole country, almost annihi-
"lated the Mohammedans, and built innumerable
"churches. But the resources of Satan are inex-
" haustible. On the side of the enemy a giant now
" appeared, whose name was Fenacute, and who was
" descended from Goliath of old. This Fenacute was
"the most formidable opponent the Christians had

10 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE ACES

'yet encountered. His strength was equal to that of
' forty men ; his face measured one cubit ; his arms
'and legs four cubits ; his total height was twenty
'cubits. Against him Charlemagne sent the most
' eminent warriors ; but they were easily discomfited
'by the giant, of whose prodigious force some idea
' may be formed from the fact that the length even
'of his fingers was three palms. The Christians
'were filled with consternation. In vain did more
'than twenty chosen men advance against the giant ;
' not one returned from the field ; Fenacute took
'them all under his arms, and carried them off into
'captivity. At length the celebrated Orlando came
' forward, and challenged him to mortal combat. An
' obstinate fight ensued, and the Christian, not meet-
'ing with the success he expected, engaged his
'adversary in a theological discussion. Here the
' pagan was easily defeated ; and Orlando, warmed
' by the controversy, pressed on his enemy, smote
'the giant with his sword, and dealt him a fatal
'wound" (Vol. I, pp. 319-21).

" The Spanish Christians considered agriculture
'beneath their dignity. In their judgment war and
' religion were the only two avocations worthy of

'being followed Some of the richest parts of

' Valencia and Grenada were so neglected that means
' were wanting to feed even the scanty population
'remaining there. Whole districts were suddenly
' deserted, and down to the present day have never

'been repeopled All over Spain the same destitu-

'tion prevailed. That once rich and prosperous
'country was covered with a rabble of monks and
'clergy, whose insatiate rapacity absorbed the little

'wealth yet to be found The fields were left

' uncultivated ; vast multitudes died from want and

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES in

"exposure; entire villages were deserted" (Vol. II,
pp. 498-505)-

"The Scotch, during the seventeenth century,
" instead of cultivating the arts of life, improving
" their minds, or adding to their wealth, passed the
" greater part of their time in what were called
" religious exercises. The sermons were so long
" and so frequent that they absorbed all leisure, and
"yet the people were never weary of hearing them.
" When a preacher was once in the pulpit the only
" limit to his loquacity was his strength. Being
" sure of a patient and reverential audience, he went
" on as long as he could. If he discoursed for two
"hours without intermission, he was valued as a
"zealous pastor who had th^ good of his flock at
"heart" (Vol. Ill, p. 203).

" It was generally believed that the world was
" overrun by evil spirits, who not only went up and
" down the earth, but also lived in the air, and whose
" business it was to tempt and hurt mankind. Their
" number was infinite, and they were to be found at
" all places and in all seasons. At their head was
"Satan himself, whose delight it was to appear in
" person, ensnaring or terrifying everyone he met.
" With this object he assumed various forms. One
" day he would visit the earth as a black dog ; on
"another day, as a raven ; on another, he would be
"heard in the distance, roaring like a bull. He
" appeared sometimes as a white man in black clothes ;
"and sometimes he came as a black man in black
" clothes, when it was remarked that his voice was
"ghastly, that he wore no shoes, and that one of his
"feet was cloven. His stratagems were endless.
"For, in the opinion of divines, his cunning in-
" creased with his age; and, having been studying

112 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES

"for more than five thousand years, he had now
"attained to unexampled dexterity. He could, and
"he did, seize both men and women, and carry them
"away through the air. Usually he wore the garb
" of laymen ; but it was said that on more than one
"occasion he had impudently attired himself as a
" minister of the gospel. At all events, in one dress
" or other, he frequently appeared to the clergy and
"tried to coax them over to his side. In that, of
" course, he failed ; but out of the ministry few,
"indeed, could withstand him. He could raise
" storms and tempests ; he could work, not only on
"the mind, but also on the organs of the body,
" making men hear and see whatever he chose. Of
"his victims, some he .prompted to commit suicide,
"others to commit murder. Still, formidable as he
" was, no Christian was considered to have attained
"to a full religious experience unless he had literally
" seen him, talked to him, and fought with him. The
"clergy were constantly preaching about him, and
"preparing their audience for an interview with their
" enemy. The consequence was that the people
" became almost crazed with fear. Whenever the
" preacher mentioned Satan the consternation was so
"great that the church resounded with sighs and
"groans. The aspect of a Scotch congregation in
" those days is, indeed, hard for us to conceive. Not
" unfrequently the people, benumbed and stupefied
" with awe, were rooted to their seats by the horrible
" fascination exercised over them, which compelled
" them to listen, though they are described as gasping
"for breath and with their hair standing on end.
"Such impressions were not easily effaced. Images
" of terror were left on the mind, and followed the
" people to their homes, and in their daily pursuits.

Bible Picture.

One of the Phases of Hell as Taught r\
Presbyterians ami Catholics.

This illustration shows us one of the many thinjjfs we
may expect in the next world if we do not believe the
extraordinary dogmas of the Christian faith. My
Chinese readers should take this very much to heart.

To face p. 112.

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES 113

"They believed that the devil was always, and
" literally, at hand ; that he was haunting them,
"speaking to them, and tempting them. There was
" no escape. Go where they would, he was there.
" A sudden noise — nay, even the sight of an inanimate
" object, such as a stone, was capable of reviving the
"association of ideas, and of bringing back to the
" memory the language uttered from the pulpit.

" Nor is it strange that this should be the case.
" All over Scotland the sermons were, with hardly an
" exception, formed after the same plan, and directed
" to the same end. To excite fear was the paramount
" object. The clergy boasted that it was their special
" mission to thunder out the wrath and curses of the
" Lord. In their eyes the Deity was not a beneficent
" being, but a cruel and remorseless tyrant. They
" declared that all mankind, a very small portion only
" excepted, were doomed to eternal misery. And
" when they came to describe what that misery was
" their dark imaginations revelled and gloated at the
"prospect. In the pictures which they drew they
" reproduced and heightened the barbarous imagery
" of a barbarous age. They delighted in telling their
" hearers that they would be roasted in great fires and
" hung up by their tongues. They were to be lashed
" with scorpions, and see their companions writhing
" and howling around them. They were to be thrown
" into boiling oil and scalding lead. A river of fire
" and brimstone, broader than the earth, was prepared
" for them ; in that they were to be immersed ; their
" bones, their lungs, and their liver were to boil, but
" never be consumed. At the same time worms were
" to prey upon them ; and while these were gnawing
"at their bodies they were to be surrounded by devils
" mocking and making pastime of their pains. Such

114 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE ACES

"were the first stages of suffering — and they were
"only the first. For the torture, besides being
" unceasing, was to become gradually worse. So
" refined was the cruelty that one hell was succeeded
" by another ; and, lest the sufferer should grow
"callous, he was, after a time, moved on, that he
" might undergo fresh agonies in fresh places, pro-
" vision being made that the torment should not pall
" on the sense, but should be varied in its character,
"as well as eternal in its duration.

" All this was the work of the God of the Scotch
"clergy. It was not only his work, it was his joy
"and his pride. For, according to them, hell was
" created before man came into the world ; the
" Almighty, they did not scruple to say, having
"spent his previous leisure in preparing and com-
"pleting this place of torture, so that, when the
"human race appeared, it might be ready for their
" reception. Ample, however, as the arrangements
" were, they were insufficient, and hell, not being big
"enough to contain the countless victims incessantly
" poured into it, had, in these latter days, been
" enlarged. There was now sufficient room. But
" in that vast expanse there was no void, for the
" whole of it reverberated with the shrieks and yells
" of undying agony. They rent the air with horrid
"sound, and, amid their pauses, other scenes
" occurred, if possible still more excruciating. Loud
" reproaches filled the ear, children reproaching their
" parents and servants reproaching their masters.
" Then, indeed, terror was rife, and abounded on
" every side. For, while the child cursed his father,
" the father, consumed by remorse, felt his own guilt ;
" and both children and fathers made hell echo with
" their piercing screams, writhing in convulsive agony

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES 115

"at the torments which they suffered, and knowing
" that other torments more grievous still were reserved
"for them" (Vol. Ill, pp. 232-42).

" Under the influence of this horrible creed, and from
" the unbounded sway exercised by the clergy who
" advocated it, the Scotch mind was thrown into such
" a state that during the seventeenth and part of the
"eighteenth century some of the noblest feelings of
" which our nature is capable — the feelings of hope,
" of love, and of gratitude — were set aside, and were
" replaced by the dictates of a servile and ignominious
" fear. The physical sufferings to which the human
"frame is liable — nay, even the very accidents to
" which we are casually exposed — were believed to
"proceed, not from our ignorance, nor from our
" carelessness, but from the rage of the Deity "
{Ibid., p. 247).

" The clergy were not ashamed to propagate a story
"of a boy who, in a trance, had been mysteriously
" conveyed to hell, and thence permitted to revisit the
" earth. His account, which is carefully preserved by
"the Rev. Robert Wodrow {Analecta, Vol. I, p. 51),
"was that 'ther wer great fires, and men toasted in
" ' them, and then cast into rivers of cold water, and
" ' then into boyling water ; others hung up by the
" ' tongue ' " {Ibid., p. 239).

The following passages are taken from Professor
John Draper's History of the Intellectual Development
of Europe, and give a remarkable general picture of
the grossness of Europe under the dominion of the
Christian clergy : —

" The attention of all Europe was suddenly arrested
" by a disease which broke out soon after the discovery
" of America. It raged with particular violence in the
"French army commanded by Charles VIII at the

ii6 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES

"siege of Naples, a.d. 1495, and spread almost like
" an epidemic. It was syphilis. Though there have
" been medical authors who supposed that it was only
" an exacerbation of a malady known from antiquity,
"that opinion cannot be maintained after the learned
" researches of Astruc. That it was something recog-
" nised at the time as altogether new seems to be
" demonstrated by the accusations of different nations
"against each other of having given origin to it.
"Very soon, however, the truth appeared. It had
" been brought by the sailors of Columbus from the
" West Indies. Its true character and the conditions
" of its propagation were fully established by Fernel.
"Now, giving full weight to the fact that the viru-
" lence of a disease may be greatest at its first inva-
"sion, but remembering that there is nothing in the
" history of syphilis that would lead us to suppose it
"ever was, or indeed could be, infectious, but only
"contagious, or communicated by direct contact from
" person to person ; remembering also the special
"circumstances under which, in this disease, that
"contagion is imparted, the rapidity of its spread
"all over Europe is a significant illustration of the
"fearful immorality of the times. If contemporary
"authors are to be trusted, there was not a class,
" married or unmarried, clergy or laity, from the holy
" father, Leo X, to the beggar by the wayside, free
" from it. It swept over Europe, not as Asiatic
"cholera has done, running along the great lines
"of trade, and leaving extensive tracts untouched,
" settling upon and devastating great cities here and
"there, while others had an immunity. The march
" of syphilis was equable, unbroken, universal, making
"good its ground from its point of appearance in the
" south-west, steadily and swiftly taking possession of

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE ACES 117

"the entire Continent, and offering an open mani-
" Testation and measure of the secret wickedness of
" society.

" If thus the sins man practises in privacy became
"suddenly and accidentally exposed, that exposure
"showing how weak is the control that any system
"can exercise over human passions, we are brought
" to the same melancholy conclusion when we turn to
"those crimes that may be perpetrated in the face of
"day. The usages of war in the civil contests of the
"fifteenth century, or in the religious conflicts of the
"sixteenth and seventeenth, are perfectly appalling;
" the annals of those evil days are full of wanton and
"objectless barbarities, refusal of quarter, murder in
"cold blood, killing of peasants. Invading armies
" burnt and destroyed everything in their way ; the
"taking of plunder and ransom of prisoners were
" recognised sources of wealth. Prosperous countries
" were made ' a sea of fire '; the horrible atrocities of
" the Spaniards in America were rivalled by those
" practised in Europe ; deliberate directions were
"given to make whole tracts 'a desert.' Attempts
" had been made to introduce some amelioration into
" warfare again and again, either by forbidding hos-
"tilities at certain times, as was the object of the
" 'truces of God,' repeatedly enforced by ecclesiastical
"authority, or by establishing between the combatants
"themselves courtesies which are at once the chief
" grace and glory of chivalry ; but to judge by the
" result as offered, even so late as the eighteenth
"century, those attempts must be regarded as having
"proved altogether abortive.

" England, at the close of the Age of Faith, had
" for long been a chief pecuniary tributary to Italy,
"the source from which large revenues had been

ii8 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE ACES

"drawn, the fruitful field in which herds of Italian
"ecclesiastics had been pastured. A wonderful
" change was impending. At the beginning of the
" sixteenth century the island was far more backward
"intellectually and politically than is commonly
"supposed. Its population hardly reached five
" millions, and was stationary at that point, not so
" much because of the effects of civil and foreign
"war as merely through the operation of ordinary
" economical causes. There was no reason to call
" more men into existence. It was regarded as good
" statesmanship to maintain the population at a
"constant standard. The municipal policy corre-
"sponded to the national ; it was not so much
"advanced as that contemporaneously existing in
" Peru. Swarms of idle ecclesiastics had set such a
" pernicious example that the indisposition among
" common people to work had become quite a formid-
"able difficulty. In every village there were stocks
"for the punishment of 'valiant beggars,' as they
"were termed. By the Act of 1531 vagrants 'whole
" ' and mighty in body ' caught begging for the first
" time might be whipped at the cart-tail ; the second
"time their ears were to be slit ; by the Act of 1536,
" if caught the third time they were to be put to
"death. In all directions large towns were falling
" into decay, a misfortune popularly attributed to
" the laziness of the lower orders, but in reality due
"to causes of a very different kind. Hitherto land
"had been the representative of authority and the
" source of power. Society had been organised upon
" that imperfect basis ; a descending scale of landed
" proprietors had been established, and in that system
" every man had a place assigned to him, just as in
" Peru, though less perfectly. It was a system of

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES 119

"organised labour, the possession of land being a
"trust, not a property. But now commerce was
"beginning to disturb the foundations on which all
"these arrangements had been sustained, and to
"compel a new distribution of population ; trading
" companies were being established ; men were un-
" settled by the rumours of realities of immense
" fortunes rapidly gained in foreign adventure. Mari-
"time enterprise was thus not only dislocating
" society, but even destroying its spirit, substituting
" self-interest for loyalty. A nation so illiterate that
" many of its peers in Parliament could neither read
" nor write was hardly able to trace the troubles
"befalling it to their proper source ; with one voice
"it imputed them to the bad example and short-
" comings of the clergy. Long before Henry VIII
"England was ready for the suppression of the
" monasteries. She regarded them as the very hot-
" beds of her evils. There were incessant complaints
"against the clergy for their scandalous lusts, for
" personal impurities such as in modern times we do
"not allude to, for their holding livings in plurality,
" for their extortion of exorbitant profits, and neglect
"in the discharge of their duty. In public opinion,
" to so great an extent had these immoralities gone
" that it was openly asserted that there were one
"hundred thousand women in England made dis-
" solute by the clergy. It was well known that
" brothels were kept in London for their use. It
" was affirmed that the confessional was shamefully
"abused, and, through it, advantage|taken of females ;
" that the vilest crime in an ecclesiastic might be
"commuted for money, six shillings and eightpence
" being sufficient in the case of mortal sin " {Intel-
lectual Development of Europe, Vol. II, pp. 231-35).

120 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES

" The moral condition of Europe was signally
"illustrated when syphilis was introduced from the
" West Indies by the companions of Columbus. It
" spread with wonderful rapidity ; all ranks of
"persons, from the Holy Father Leo X to the
"beggar by the wayside, contracting the shameful
"disease. Many excused their misfortune by declar-
"ing that it was an epidemic proceeding from a
" certain malignity in the constitution of the air, but
" in truth its spread was due to a certain infirmity in
"the constitution of man — an infirmity which had
" not been removed by the spiritual guidance under
"which he had been living.

" To the medical efficacy of shrines must be added
"that of special relics. These were sometimes of
"the most extraordinary kind. There were several
"abbeys that possessed our Saviour's crown of
" thorns. Eleven had the lance that had pierced his
"side. If any person was adventurous enough to
"suggest that these could not all be authentic, he
"would have been denounced as an atheist. During
"the holy wars the Templar-Knights had driven a
" profitable commerce by bringing from Jerusalem to
"the Crusading armies bottles of the milk of the
"Blessed Virgin, which they sold for enormous
" sums ; these bottles were preserved with pious care
" in many of the great religious establishments. But
"perhaps none of these impostures surpassed in
" audacity that offered by a monastery in Jerusalem,
" which presented to the beholder one of the fingers
" of the Holy Ghost ! " {The Conflict between Religion
and Science, pp. 269-70).

" Gregory himself was a sincere believer in miracles,
" ghosts, and the resurrection of many persons from
" the grave, but who, alas ! had brought no tidings

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES 121

" of the secret wonders of that land of deepest shade.
" He made these wild fancies the actual, the daily,
" the practical religion of Europe. Participating in
"the ecclesiastical hatred of human learning, and
"insisting on the maxim that 'Ignorance is the
" ' mother of devotion,' he expelled from Rome all
" mathematical studies, and burned the Palatine library
" founded by Augustus Caesar. It was valuable for the
" many rare manuscripts it contained. He forbade the
" study of the classics, mutilated statues, and destroyed
" temples. He hated the very relics of classical genius ;
" pursued with vindictive fanaticism the writings of
" Livy, against whom he was specially excited. It
" has truly been said that ' he was as inveterate an
" ' enemy to learning as ever lived '; that ' no lucid
" ' ray ever beamed on his superstitious soul.' He
"boasted that his own works were written without
" regard to the rules of grammar, and censured the
"crime of a priest who had taught that subject"
{Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. II, p. 357).
" We have now approached the close of a thousand
"years from the birth of Christ ; the evil union of the
" Church and State, their rivalries, their intrigues,
" their quarrels, had produced an inevitable result,
"doing the same in the West that they had done in
"the East; disorganising the political system, and
"ending in a universal social demoralisation. The
"absorption of small properties into large estates
"steadily increased the number of slaves; where
"there had once been many free families, there was
" now found only a rich man. Even of this class the
"number diminished by the same process of absorp-
"tion, until there were sparsely scattered here and
"there abbots and counts with enormous estates
" worked by herds of slaves, whose numbers, since

122 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES

"sometimes one man possessed more than 20,000 of
"them, might deceive us, if we did not consider the
" vast surface over which they were spread. Examined
" in that way, the west of Europe proves to have been
"covered with forests, here and there dotted with a
" convent or a town. From those countries, once full
"of the splendid evidences of Roman civilisation,
"mankind was fast disappearing" (Ibid., Vol. II,

PP- 376-77)-

"The Venetians employed the Crusaders for the
"capture of Zara from the King of Hungary. Still
" worse, and shameful to be said — partly from the lust
" of plunder, and partly through ecclesiastical machina-
"tions — it again turned aside for an attack upon Con-
"stantinople, and took that city by storm a.d. 1204,
" thereby establishing Latin Christianity in the Eastern
" metropolis, but, alas ! with bloodshed, rape, and fire.
" On the night of the assault more houses were burned
" than could be found in any three of the largest cities
"in France. Even Christian historians compare with
"shame the storming of Constantinople by the Catho-
" lies with the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin. Pope
" Innocent himself was compelled to protest against
" enormities that had outrun his intentions. He says :
" ' They practised fornications, incests, adulteries in
" ' the sight of men. They abandoned matrons and
" ' virgins, consecrated to God, to the lewdness of
" ' groans. They lifted their hands against the
" ' treasures of the churches — what is more heinous,
" ' the very consecrated vessels — tearing the tablets of
" 'silver from the very altars, breaking in pieces the
" ' most sacred things, carrying off crosses and relics.'
" In St. Sophia the silver was stripped from the
" pulpit ; an exquisite and highly-prized table of
" oblation was broken in pieces, and sacred chalices

Bible Picture.

Jesus Casting Out a Multitude of Devils.

When Christ was still upon Earth he spent the g;reater
part of his time g'oing about the country healing the
sick, restoring sight to the blind, raising the dead,
and casting out devils. He cast no less than seven
out of the body of Mary Magdalene, and about two
thousand out of the sufferer in the Gadarene country.
The illustration, which is taken from the Bible, shows
Jesus in the act of casting out devils. The vapour
escaping from the man's mouth arises from the burning
brimstone which always accompanies devils. It is
important that the Chinese should know this.

To face p. 1 22.

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES 123

" were turned into drinking-cups ; the gold fringe was
" ripped off the veil of the sanctuary. Asses and
" horses were led into the churches to carry off the
" spoil. A prostitute mounted the patriarch's throne,
"and sang, with indecent gestures, a ribald song.
"The tombs of the emperors were rifled; and the
" Byzantines saw, at once with amazement and
"anguish, the corpse of Justinian — which even decay
"and putrefaction had for six centuries spared in his
" tomb — exposed to the violation of a mob. It had
" been understood among those who instigated these
"atrocious proceedings that the relics were to be
"brought into a common stock and equitably divided
" among the conquerors ; but each ecclesiastic seized
"and secreted whatever he could. The idolatrous
" state of the Eastern Church is illustrated by some of
"these relics. Thus the Abbot Martin obtained for
"his monastery in Alsace the following inestimable
"articles: (i) A spot of the blood of our Saviour;
" (2) a piece of the true cross ; (3) the arm of the
" Apostle James ; (4) part of the skeleton of John the
" Baptist ; (5) I hesitate to write such blasphemy — ' a
" ' bottle of the milk of the Mother of God ' ! " {Ibid.,

PP- 56-57)-

The other leading American writer on these
matters, Andrew D. White, has written so much on
the superstition and grossness of the Middle Ages
that I can only refer the reader to his two learned
volumes (The Warfare of Science with Theology).
One or two brief extracts may be made from them
referring to " demoniacal possession " and the treat-
ment of insanity : —

" A drink for a fiend-sick man, to be drunk out of a
"church bell; cithrife, cynoglossum, yarrow, lupin,
"flower-de-luce, fennel, lichen, lovage. Work up to

124 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES

"a drink with clear ale, sing seven masses over it,
" add garlic and holy water, and let the possessed sing
" t\i& Beati Immaculati ; then let him drink the dose
" out of a church bell, and let the priest sing over him
"the Domine Sancte Pater Omnipotens" (Vol. II,
p. 102).

" In 1760 some congregations of Calvinistic Metho-
"dists in Wales became so fervent that they began
"leaping for joy. The mania spread, and gave rise
" to a sect called the 'Jumpers.' A similar outbreak
"took place afterwards in England, and has been
" repeated at various times and places since in our
"own country" {Ibid., p. 157).

Some vivid pages also may be quoted from Felix L.
Oswald's The Secret of the East: —

"At the end of the thirteenth century the enemies
"of nature had reached the zenith of their power;
" and, at that time, it may be said that without a single
"exception the countries of Christian Europe were
"worse governed, more ignorant, more superstitious,
" poorer, and unhappier than the worst governed
" province of pagan Rome. The ' scion of the
" ' Buddhistic parent tree ' had begun to bear fruit
" after its kind. The sway of the Cross extended from
"the Baltic to the Hellespont; the empire of the
" Church embraced every variety of European climate ;
"it embraced Greek, Latin, German, Slavic, and
" Celtic nations — nations which it had received in
" every stage of civilisation, semi-civilisation, and
" barbarism, but whom the poison of its dogmas had
" effected with a uniform result. Wherever we look,
" darkness, slavery, and misery ; bigoted tyrants and
"brutalised serfs, neglected fields, blighted cities,
" perverted sciences, and paralysed industries ; hordes
" of self-torturing maniacs frenzying the populace with

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE ACES 125

" their threats and prophecies ; international man-
" hunts, religious massacres, witchcraft riots, and a
" merciless war against every form of mental and
"social independence" (pp. 73-74).

"The abbot Alcuin had twenty thousand slaves,
" called serfs, who were forever attached to the soil.
" This is the great cause of the rapid depopulation
"observed in the Middle Ages, and of the prodigious
" multitude of monasteries which sprang up on every
" side. It was doubtless a relief to such miserable
" men to find in the cloisters a retreat from oppres-
"sion; but the human race never suffered a more
" cruel outrage, industry never received a wound
" better calculated to plunge the world again into the
" darkness of the rudest antiquity. It suffices to say
" that the prediction of the approaching end of the
" world, industriously spread by the rapacious monks
"at this time, was received without terror" (p. 73).

" Pessimism has been on trial for sixteen hundred
"years; and the history of the Middle Ages has
" taught us that man's divorce from his earthly instincts
" is the removal of a tree from its native soil, a removal
" from the basis of life. For sixteen centuries of faith
"and trust, our ancestors tried to reach heaven by
"abandoning their place in nature; and we can now
"estimate the costs of the experiment.

" The dogmas of the Christian Church have cost
" the world three million square miles of lands, which
" once were the garden spots of this earth, but which
" have been turned into deserts by the neglect of
" rational agriculture and the influence of a creed
" which laboured to withdraw the attention of mankind
"from secular to post-mortem concernments. 'The
" ' fairest and fruitfullest provinces of the Roman
"'Empire,' says Professor Marsh, 'precisely that

126 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES

" ' portion of terrestrial surface, in short, which, about
" ' the commencement of the Christian era, was
" ' endowed with the greatest superiority of soil,
" ' climate, and position, which had been carried to
" ' the highest pitch of physical improvement — is now
"'completely exhausted of its fertility. A territory
" ' larger than all Europe, the abundance of which sus-
" ' tained in bygone centuries a population scarcely in-
" ' ferior to that of the whole Christian world at the
" ^present day, has been entirely withdrawn from

'"human use, or, at best, is thinly inhabited

" ' There are regions where the operation of causes,
" 'set in action by man, has brought the face of the
" ' earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of
" ^ the moon; and, though within that brief space of
" ' time which we call " the historical period " they
" ' are known to have been covered with luxuriant
" ' woods, verdant pastures, and fertile meadows, they
" ' are now too far deteriorated to be reclaimable by
" ' man, nor can they become again fitted for his use
" ' except through great geological changes, or other

"'agencies, over which we have no control

" ' Another era of equal improvidence would reduce
" ' this earth to such a condition of impoverished pro-
" ' ductiveness as to threaten the depravation, bar-
" ' barism, and, perhaps, even the extinction of the
" ' human species'" {Man and Nature, pp. 4, 43, 80-81).
"Christianity has retarded the progress of the
" human race by at least fifteen hundred years. The
"fruits of science and social reform, which our
"descendants will reap in fifteen centuries hence,
" might be enjoyed at the present moment if the last
"sixty generations had not wasted their time in
" disputes about the interpretation of idiotic dogmas,
"and the attempt to gain the heaven of a future

GROSSMESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES 127

"world by despising the blessings of the present"
(p. 82).

The following quotations are from Mr. Perrycoste's
Ritual, Faith, and Morals (1910) : —

" To many pious and earnest Christians — who
" habitually follow the dictates of their own innately
" noble natures, and from whom a cheerful tempera-
"ment, an imperceptibly semi-secular education and
"environment, a happy intellectual unconcern for
" logic or consistency, and an infinite ignorance of
" history have conspired to veil the real implications
"of their creed — it will appear terrifying and incon-
" ceivable that the Christian Church and the Christian
" religion should have been for centuries the means
" of demoralising mankind so utterly, and they will
" demand, with incredulity, what possible explanation
" can be given of this seeming paradox. The solution
" to this puzzle is, however, very simple ; for all these
" terrible consequences flow naturally and inevitably
" from the dogma " (p. 14).

" The wonder is that neither Christians nor
" Moslems have ever had the practical sense to
" adopt the praying wheel, which is scarcely more
" mechanical than the rosary, saves the expenditure
" of a deal of time and trouble, and is doubtlessly
" quite as efficacious both as a means of grace and
" as a method of influencing the mind of the deity "
(p. 86).

" We have now arrived at the middle of the
" fifteenth century ; and to what an extravagant and
" revolting pitch the sale of absolutions had attained
" in some parts of Europe may be realised from
" Motley's account of this traffic in the Netherlands.
" 'The enormous impudence of this traffic,' he says,
"'almost exceeds belief.' Throughout the Nether-

I2S CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES

" lands the price current of the wares thus offered for
"sale was published in every town and village.
"God's pardon for crimes already committed, or
" about to be committed, was advertised according to
"a graduated tariff. Thus poisoning, for example,
" was absolved for eleven ducats six livres tournois.
" Absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six
"livres three ducats. Perjury came to seven livres
"and three carlines. Pardon for murder, if not by
" poison, was cheaper. Even a parricide could buy
" forgiveness at God's tribunal at one ducat, four
" livres, eight carlines. Henry de Montfort, in the
"year 1448, purchased absolution for that crime at
"that price. Thus did the cult of rites deliberately
" and openly promote the perpetration of every crime
"and vice" (pp. 188-89).

" How is it other than devil-worship if men serve
"a God who, as they are taught, keeps human souls
" in horrible torture as an expiation of their sins, and
"yet will instantly release them if other people sufii-
"ciently bribe his priests to perform a series of
" mechanical rites ! How can any people who
"sincerely worship such a God possibly preserve
" any sense of, or regard for, either justice or mercy ?
"Thus the rites which necessarily flowed from the
"doctrine of purgatory greatly increased the depra-
" vation of medieval ethics " (p. 191).

" Now, it fortunately happens that I have been
"favoured with a lengthy correspondence from an
" American who has lived among Spaniards and
" Spanish Americans for thirty years, and knows
" their manners intimately ; and on the subject of
" indulgences he writes as follows : ' The Cardinal
" ' Archbishop of Toledo is at the head of the Spanish
" ' Church. He issues in the name of the Pope

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES i2§

" ' millions of dollars' worth of Bulas (plenary Indul-
" ' gences) per year in Spain. They are sold similarly
"'to lottery-tickets — i.e., anyone who wishes to deal
" ' in them can get a liberal discount off the list-price.
" ' In towns they are sold in the shops where holy
" ' images and saints' pictures, prayer-books, etc., are

"'sold; but bishops and priests deal in them

" ' The wording of these Bulas is something wonder-
" ' ful. There is one that refers to committing capital
" ' crimes of the worst kinds — a large sin-offering
" ' must be made, and a restoration of a part of the
" ' proceeds of the crime must be made to the Church
" ' after confession ' " (pp. 248-49).

I will close this section of the book with a few
passages from the eloquent pages of Ingersoll, who
has so boldly denounced the abuses of religion in the
past and in our own time : —

" For thousands of years the practice of medicine
"consisted in driving these evil spirits out of the
"bodies of men " (IngersoU's Works, Vol. I, p. 287).

" Whoever endeavoured to account for these things
" by natural causes, whoever attempted to cure
" diseases by natural means, was denounced by the
" Church as an infidel. To explain anything was a
"crime" (Ibid., pp. 287-88).

" The Church never wanted disease to be under the
"control of man. Tomothy Dwight, president of
" Yale College, preached a sermon against vaccina-
" tion. His idea was, that if God had decreed from
" all eternity that a certain man should die with the
"small-pox, it was frightful sin to avoid and annul
" that decree by the trick of vaccination. Small-pox
" being regarded as one of the heaviest guns in the
"arsenal of heaven, to spike it was the height of
"presumption " (Ibid., p. 289).

K

i3o CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE ACES

"The ghosts were historians, and their histories
"were the grossest absurdities. 'Tales told by
" 'idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.'
"In those days the histories were written by the
" monks, who, as a rule, were almost as superstitious
" as they were dishonest. They wrote as though they
" had been witnesses of every occurrence they related.
" They wrote the history of every country of import-
"ance. They told all the past and predicted all the
"future with an impudence that amounted to sub-
"limity" {Ibid., pp. 290-91).

" ' It is well known that Mohammed was once a
" ' cardinal, and became a heretic because he failed in
"'his effort to be elected pope'; and that, having
" drank to excess, he fell by the roadside, and in this
" condition was killed by swine. ' And for that reason
" ' his followers abhor pork even unto this day.'

"Another eminent historian informs us that Nero
"was in the habit of vomiting frogs " {Ibid., p. 292),

" The history of Britain, written by the Arch-
" deacons of Monmouth and Oxford, was wonder-
" fully popular. According to them, Brutus con-
"quered England and built the city of London.
" During his time it rained pure blood for three
"days. At another time a monster came from the
"sea, and, after having devoured great multitudes
" of people, swallowed the king and disappeared.
"They tell us that King Arthur was not born like
" other mortals, but was the result of a magical con-
"trivance ; that he had great luck in killing giants;
"that he killed one in France that had the cheerful
"habit of eating some thirty men a day; that this
" giant had clothes woven of the beards of the kings
"he had devoured. To cap the climax, one of the
"authors of this book was promoted for having

CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES 131

" written the only reliable history of his country "
{Ibid., pp. 292-93).

" In spite of the efforts of the brave few, the
" infamous war against the freedom of the soul was
" waged until at least one hundred millions of human
"beings — fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters — with
" hopes, loves, and aspirations like ourselves, were
" sacrificed upon the cruel altar of an ignorant faith.
" They perished in every way by which death can be
" produced. Every nerve of pain was sought out and
"touched by the believers in ghosts.

" For my part, I glory in the fact that here in the
" New World— in the United States — liberty of con-
" science was first guaranteed to man, and that the
" Constitution of the United States was the first great
"decree entered in the high court of human equity
" forever divorcing Church and State — the first injunc-
" tion granted against the interference of the ghosts.
" This was one of the grandest steps ever taken by the
" human race in the direction of progress.

" You will ask what has caused this wonderful
"change in three hundred years. And I answer:
" The inventions and discoveries of the few ; the
" brave thoughts, the heroic utterances of the few ;
"the acquisition of a few facts" {Ibid., pp. 310-11).

" From records in the State archives of Hesse-
" Darmstadt, dating back to the thirteenth century,
"it appears that the public executioner's fee for
" boiling a criminal in oil was twenty-four florins ;
"for decapitating with the sword, fifteen florins and
"a-half; for quartering, the same; for breaking on
" the wheel, five florins, thirty kreuzers ; for tearing
"a man to pieces, eighteen florins. Ten florins per
"head was his charge for hanging, and he burned
"delinquents alive at the rate of fourteen florins

132 CROSSNESS, ETC., IN THE MIDDLE AGES

"apiece. For applying the Spanish boot his fee was
" only two florins. Five florins were paid to him
"every time he subjected a refractory witness to the
" torture of the rack. The same amount was his due
"for branding the sign of the gallows with a red-hot
"iron upon the back, forehead, or cheek of a thief,
"as well as for cutting off the nose and ears of a
" slanderer or blasphemer. Flogging with rods was
"a cheap punishment, its remuneration being fixed
"at three florins, thirty kreuzers " {Ibid., Vol. V,
pp. 190-91).

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

If we wish to know the character of the water in a
river, an excellent plan is to ascertain its origin and
what sort of a channel it has flown through before it
reaches us. If the channel has been through low and
boggy land, the water is sure to be contaminated, no
matter how pure it may have been at its source. So
it is with Christianity, No matter how pure its
original source may have been, it certainly passed
through a very vile sewer before it reached us in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries ; and we have to
judge it by what it actually is when it reaches us,
instead of by what may be claimed for it by its
followers.

Protestantism, as compared with Roman Catho-
licism, has a lighter guilt. It has been truthfully
claimed and truthfully said by the high officials of
the Roman Catholic Church that the history of
Christianity is the history of the popes. I think
we must all admit that this claim is sound, and we
will therefore examine the lives of the popes. Let
us see what kind of men they were, and we shall not
be surprised at the grossness of their followers.

The Catholics tell us that the popes are infallible
in everything that relates to religion and morality.
I submit the following account of the lives of some
of them by that well-known and impartial American
historian, Professor John Draper (see his History
of the Intellectual Development of Europe already
referred to) : —

133

134 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

"To some it might seem, considering the interests
" of religion alone, desirable to omit all biographical
" reference to the popes ; but this cannot be done
"with justice to the subject. The essential principle
" of the papacy, that the Roman pontiff is the vicar
"of Christ upon earth, necessarily obtrudes his per-
"sonal relations upon us. How shall we understand
"his faith unless we see it illustrated in his life?
" Indeed, the unhappy character of these relations
" was the inciting cause of the movements in Germany,
"France, and England, ending in the extinction of
"the papacy as an actual political power — movements
" to be understood only through a sufficient know-
" ledge of the private lives and opinions of the popes.
" It is well, as far as possible, to abstain from burden-
"ing systems with the imperfections of individuals.
"In this case they are inseparably interwoven. The
"signal peculiarity of the papacy is that, though its
" history may be imposing, its biography is infamous.
"I shall, however, forbear to speak of it in this latter
" respect more than the occasion seems necessarily
"to require ; shall pass in silence some of those cases
" which would profoundly shock my religious reader,
"and therefore restrict myself to the ages between
"the middle of the eighth and the middle of the
"eleventh centuries, excusing myself to the impartial
" critic by the apology that these were the ages with
"which I have been chiefly concerned in this chapter.

"On the death of Pope Paul I, who had attained
"the pontificate a.d. 757, the Duke of Nepi com-
"pelled some bishops to consecrate Constantine, one
" of his brothers, as pope ; but more legitimate electors
"subsequently, a.d. 768, choosing Stephen IV, the
" usurper and his adherents were severely punished ;
"the eyes of Constantine were put out ; the tongue of

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 135

" the Bishop Theodorus was amputated, and he was
" left in a dungeon to expire in the agonies of thirst.
" The nephews of Pope Adrian seized his successor,
" Pope Leo III, a.d. 795, in the street, and, forcing
" him into a neighbouring church, attempted to put
" out his eyes and cut out his tongue. At a later
" period, this pontiff trying to suppress a conspiracy
" to depose him, Rome became the scene of rebel-
"lion, murder, and conflagration. His successor,
"Stephen V, a.d. 816, was ignominiously driven
"from the city ; his successor. Paschal I, was accused
"of blinding and murdering two ecclesiastics in the
" Lateran Palace. It was necessary that imperial
" commissioners should investigate the matter ; but
"the Pope died, after having exculpated himself by
"oath before thirty bishops. John VIII, a.d. 872,
"unable to resist the Mohammedans, was compelled
" to pay them tribute ; the Bishop of Naples, main-
"taining a secret alliance with them, received his
"share of the plunder they collected. Him John
" excommunicated, nor would he give them absolu-
" tion unless he would betray the chief Mohammedans
"and assassinate others himself. There was an
"ecclesiastical conspiracy to murder the Pope ; some
" of the treasures of the Church were seized ; and the
" gate of St. Pancrazia was opened with false keys,
"to admit the Saracens into the city. Formosus, who
" had been engaged in these transactions, and excom-
" municated as a conspirator for the murder of John,
"was subsequently elected Pope, a.d. 891 ; he was
"succeeded by Boniface VI, a.d. 896, who had been
"deposed from the diaconate, and again from the
" priesthood, for his immoral and lewd life. By
"Stephen VII, who followed, the dead body of
" Formosus was taken from the grave, clothed in the

136 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

" papal habiliments, propped up in a chair, tried before
"a council, and the preposterous and indecent scene
"completed by cutting off three of the fingers of the
"corpse and casting it into the Tiber; but Stephen
"himself was destined to exemplify how low the
" papacy had fallen ; he was thrown into prison and
" strangled. In the course of five years, from a.d. 896
"to A.D. goo, five popes were consecrated. Leo V,
"who succeeded in a.d. 904, was in less than two
"months thrown into prison by Christopher, one of
"his chaplains, who usurped his place, and who, in
"his turn, was shortly expelled from Rome by
"Sergius III, who, by the aid of a military force,
"seized the pontificate, a.d. 905. This man, accord-
"ing to the testimony of the times, lived in criminal
" intercourse with the celebrated prostitute Theodora,
"who, with her daughters Marozia and Theodora,
" also prostitutes, exercised an extraordinary control
"over him. The love of Theodora was also shared
" by John X ; she gave him first the archbishopric of
" Ravenna, and then translated him to Rome, a.d. 915,
"as Pope. John was not unsuited to the times. He
" organised a confederacy, which perhaps prevented
" Rome from being captured by the Saracens ; and
"the world was astonished and edified by the appear-
" ance of this warlike pontiff at the head of his troops.
" By the love of Theodora, as was said, he had main-
"tained himself in the papacy for fourteen years ; by
" the intrigues and hatred of her daughter Marozia
"he was overthrown. She surprised bin. in the
" Lateran Palace ; killed his brother Peter before his
"face; threw him into prison, where he soon died,
" smothered, as was asserted, with a pillow. After
"a short interval Marozia made her own son Pope
"as John XI, a.d. 931. Many affirmed that Pope

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 137

"Sergiuswas his father; but she herself inclined to
"attribute him to her husband Alberic, whose brother
"Guido she subsequently married. Another of her
"sons, Alberic, so called from his supposed father,
"jealous of his brother John, cast him and their
" mother, Marozia, into prison. After a time Alberic's
" son was elected Pope, a.d. 956 ; he assumed the title
"of John XII, the amorous Marozia thus having
" given a son and a grandson to the papacy. John
"was only nineteen years old when he thus became
"the head of Christendom. His reign was charac-
"terised by the most shocking immoralities, so that
"the Emperor Otho I was compelled by the German
" clergy to interfere. A synod was summoned for
" his trial in the Church of St. Peter, before which it
" appeared that John had received bribes for the con-
"secration of bishops ; that he had ordained one who
" was but ten years old, and had performed that
" ceremony over another in a stable. He was charged
" with incest with one of his father's concubines, and
" with so many adulteries that the Lateran Palace
" had become a brothel ; he put out the eyes of one
"ecclesiastic and castrated another, both dying in
"consequence of their injuries; he was given to
"drunkenness, gambling, and the invocation of
"Jupiter and Venus. When cited to appear before
"the Council, he sent word that 'he had gone out
"'hunting'; and to the Fathers who remonstrated
"with him he threateningly remarked 'that Judas,
" ' as well as the other disciples, received from his
" ' master the power of binding and loosing ; but
" ' that, as soon as he proved a traitor to the common
" ' cause, the only power he retained was that of
" ' binding his own neck.' Hereupon he was deposed,
"and Leo VIII elected in his stead, a.d. 963; but,

138 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

" subsequently getting the upper hand, he seized his
"antagonists, cut off the hand of one, the nose,
"finger, tongue of another. His life was eventually
" brought to an end by the vengeance of a man whose
" wife he had seduced.

" After such details it is almost needless to allude
"to the annals of succeeding popes; to relate that
"John XIII was strangled in prison ; that Boni-
" face VII imprisoned Benedict VII and killed him
" by starvation ; that John XIV was secretly put to
"death in the dungeons of the Castle of St. Angelo ;
"that the corpse of Boniface was dragged by the
"populace through the streets. The sentiment of
" reverence for the sovereign pontiff — nay, even of
" respect, had become extinct in Rome ; throughout
" Europe the clergy were so shocked at the state of
"things that, in their indignation, they began to
"look with approbation on the intention of the
"Emperor Otho to take from the Italians their
" privilege of appointing the successor of St. Peter,
"and confine it to his own family. But his kinsman,
"Gregory V, whom he placed on the pontifical
"throne, was very soon compelled by the Romans
" to fly ; his excommunications and religious thunders
"were turned into derision by them ; they were too
" well acquainted with the true nature of those terrors ;
"they were living behind the scenes. A terrible
" punishment awaited the anti-Pope John XVI.
"Otho returned into Italy, seized him, put out his
"eyes, cut off his nose and tongue, and sent him
" through the streets mounted on an ass, with his
" face to the tail, and a wine-bladder on his head. It
" seemed impossible that things could become worse ;
"yet Rome had still to see Benedict IX, a.d. 1033,
"a boy of less than twelve years, raised to the

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 139

"apostolic throne. Of this pontiff, one of his
"successors, Victor III, declared that his life was
"so shameful, so foul, so execrable, that he shuddered
" to describe it. He ruled like a captain of banditti
"rather than a prelate. The people at last, unable
"to bear his adulteries, homicides, and abominations
"any longer, rose against him. In despair of main-
" taining his position, he put up the papacy to
"auction. It was bought by a Presbyterian named
"John, who became Gregory VI, A.D. 1045. More than
"a thousand years had elapsed since the birth of our
"Saviour, and such was the condition of Rome.
" Well may the historian shut the annals of those
"■ times in disgust ; well may the heart of the Christian
" sink within him at such a catalogue of hideous
" crimes. Well may he ask. Were these the vice-
" gerents of God upon earth — these, who had truly
" reached that goal beyond which the last effort of
"human wickedness cannot pass?" (Vol. I, pp.
378-82).

The popes continued on these lines until the
Reformation, but we should not have space here to
give even in summary the lives of these " Vicars of
Christ," as they called themselves. Here is a picture
of one of the many unscrupulous popes of the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries : —

"Urban VI (1378-89). In his time occurred what
"is known as 'the great Western schism,' which
" lasted from 1378 till the Council of Constance (1414).
" There were during that time two popes, one residing
" at Rome and the other at Avignon. But which of
" the popes was the true one and which the anti-
" pope has not yet been decided. Urban VI was a
" ferocious despot. He ordered six cardinals, whom
" he suspected of opposing him, to be brutally

I40 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

"tortured. Nor was his competitor, Clement VII,
" beliind Iiim in violence and crime. For fifty years
" they and their successors excited bloody wars and
"excommunicated one another. The schism, which
" cost thousands of lives, was ended by the deposition
"of John XXIII (1415), who was found guilty of
" murder and incest. He was accused before the
"Council of having seduced two hundred nuns.
"Theodoric de Niem informs us that he kept two
" hundred mistresses in Bologna, and he is described
" by his own secretary as a monster of avarice,
"ambition, lewdness, and cruelty. The same author
"says that an act of accusation prepared against him
" presented a complete catalogue of every mortal
" crime " {Crimes of Christianity, by G. W. Foote
and J. M. Wheeler, pp. 134-35).

We are bound to agree with Professor Haeckel
when he says in his Riddle of the Universe : —

"The whole history of the papacy, as it is sub-
"stantiated by a thousand reliable sources and acces-
"sible documents, appears to the impartial student
"as an unscrupulous tissue of lying and deceit, a
" reckless pursuit of absolute mental despotism and
"secular power, a frivolous contradiction of all the
" high moral precepts which true Christianity enun-
"ciates — charity and toleration, truth and chastity,
" poverty and self-denial. When we judge the long
" series of popes and of the Roman princes of the
" Church from whom the Pope is chosen by the
" standard of pure Christian morality, it is clear that
"the great majority of them were pitiful impostors,
" many of them utterly worthless and vicious. These
" well-known historical facts, however, do not prevent
" millions of educated Catholics from admitting the
"infallibility which the Pope has claimed for himself;

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 141

" they do not prevent Protestant princes from going
" to Rome and doing reverence to the pontiff (their
" most dangerous enemy) ; they do not prevent the
"fate of the German people from being entrusted
" to-day to the hands of the servants and followers
"of this 'pious impostor' in the Reichstag" (p. 333).

There is plain and pregnant truth, too, in the
comment of Ingersoll : —

" Compare the popes with the kings and queens of
" England ; infinite wisdom had but little to do with
" the selection of these monarchs, and yet they were
"far better than any equal number of consecutive
" popes. This is faint praise, even for kings and
" queens ; but it shows that chance succeeded in
"getting better rulers for England than 'Infinite
" ' Wisdom ' did for the Church of Rome. Compare
"the popes with the presidents of the Republic
"elected by the people. If Adams had murdered
" Washington, and Jefferson had imprisoned Adams,
"and if Madison had cut out Jefferson's tongue, and
" Monroe had assassinated Madison, and John Quincy
" Adams had poisoned Monroe, and General Jackson
" had hung Adams and his Cabinet, we might say
" that presidents had been as virtuous as popes. But
" if this had happened, the verdict of the world would
"be that the people are not capable of selecting
"their presidents" (Ingersoll's Works, Vol. VI,

P- 370).

Much as we may be shocked by the dreadful
immorality and wickedness of the Roman Catholic
priesthood during the Middle Ages, we should not
lose sight of the fact that this wickedness was not
introduced into religion by themselves. The early
Fathers of our religious system practised the same
kind of immorality long before the Roman Catholic

142 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

Church was organised at Rome, as will be seen from
the following which I quote from the admirable work
by John E. Remsburg entitled The Christ. What
Mr. Remsburg has to say on the subject is largely
quoted from other works : —

" From Soury's account of the sanctified prostitu-
" tion of Israel I quote the following : ' The tents of
" ' the sacred prostitutes were generally erected on the
"'"high places," where sacrifices were offered,
" ' beside the tablet of Baal or lahveh (Jehovah) and
" ' the symbol of Aschera (Isaiah Ivii, 7, et seq. ;
" ' Ezekiel xxiii, 14; Hosea iv, 17). These tents were
" ' woven and ornamented with figures by the
" ' priestesses of Aschera. Robed in splendid
" ' garments, their tresses dripping with perfumes,
"'their cheeks painted with vermillion, their eyes
" ' black-circled with antimony, their eyelashes
" ' lengthened with a compound of gums, musk, and
" ' ebony, the priestesses awaited the worshippers of
"'the goddess within these tents (Numbers xxv, 8)
"'on spacious beds (Isaiah Ivii, 8); they fixed their
" ' own prices and conditions, and poured the money
" ' into the treasury of the temple ' {Religion of Israel,
"p. 71). After describing the temple of Zarpanit,
"which was furnished with cells for the use of the
" Babylonian women. Dr. Soury says : ' Cells of the
" ' same kind, serving the same purpose, existed at
"'Jerusalem in the very temple of Jehovah, wherein
" ' Aschera had her symbol and was adored ' {Ibid.,
" p. 72). ' Prostitutes,' says this writer, * were of both
" ' sexes. The men were called kedeschim, the
" ' women kedeschoth — that is, " holy, vowed, con-
" ' "secrated." Deuteronomy bears witness that both
" ' the one and the other brought the hire of their
" ' prostitution into the treasury of the temple of

Bible Picture.

A Very Fine God-Box.

Tlie ancient Jews were an extremely religious people.
They were in constant communication with God, who
assisted them in making war on other tribes, and in
order to facilitate matters God gave them explicit
orders how to construct a suitable residence for him
while on Earth. The illustration shows the box that
God lived in. It was made of shittim wood, and very
heavily bound with gold ; and when the Jews were
making war upon other tribes they carried their God
about with them, sometimes on their shoulders, and
sometimes on an ox cart. If the Chinese will read the
twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, they will be able to form
a fair idea of the size and character of Jehovah, the
tribal deity of the Jews, who was afterwards taken over
by the Christians as their principal God.

To face p. 143-

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 143

"'Jehovah. This paid in part the expenses of
" ' worship at Jerusalem ' {Ibid., p. 73)-"

" It is well known that religious prostitution has
"been practised in some form by Christ's devotees
"from the earliest ages of the Church down to the
" present time. Writing of the Middle Ages, Lecky,
" the historian of European morals, says : ' We may
" ' not lay much stress on such isolated instances of
" ' depravity as that of Pope John XXIII, who was
" ' condemned, among many other crimes, for incest
" ' and adultery ; or the abbot-elect of St. Augustine,
" ' at Canterbury, who in 1 171 was found, on investiga-
" ' tion, to have seventeen illegitimate children in a
" ' single village ; or an abbot of St. Pelayo, in Spain,
" ' who in 1 1 30 was proved to have kept no less than
"'seventy concubines; or Henry III, Bishop of
" 'Liege, who was deposed in 1274 for having sixty-
" ' five illegitimate children ; but it is impossible to
" ' resist the evidence of a long chain of councils and
" ' ecclesiastical writers, who conspire in depicting

" 'far greater evils than simple concubinage The

" ' writers of the Middle Ages are full of accounts of
" ' nunneries that were like brothels, of the vast
" ' multitudes of infanticides within their walls, and of
" ' that inveterate prevalence of incest among the
" ' clergy which rendered it necessary again and again
" ' to issue the most stringent enactments that priests
" ' should not be permitted to live with their mothers
" ' or sisters ' (Lecky, History of European Morals).

" The prelates of the Church, being equally culpable,
"winked at the licentiousness of the lower orders of
"the clergy. 'In every country,' says Hallam, 'the
" ' secular and parochial clergy kept women in their
" ' houses, upon more or less acknowledged terms of
" ' intercourse, by a connivance of their ecclesiastical

144 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

"'superiors' (Hallam, Middle Ages, p. 353). 'A
" ' writer of respectable authority asserts that the
" ' clergy frequently obtained a bishop's licence to
" ' cohabit with a mate ' {Ibid. , p. 354).

" Another form of ' sanctified ' sexual indulgence,
" and which received the sanction of the Church, was
" what is known as Marquette. Concerning this
"custom Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, in her Woman,
" Church, and State, says : ' The law known as
" ' Marchetta, or Marquette, compelled newly-married
" ' women to a most dishonourable servitude. They
" ' were regarded as the rightful prey of the feudal
" ' lord from one to three days after their marriage,
" ' and from this custom the eldest son of the serf

" 'was held as the son of the lord Marquette was

" ' claimed by the Lords Spiritual as well as by the
" ' Lords Temporal. The Church, indeed, was the
" ' bulwark of this base feudal claim.' This is affirmed
" by the French historian Michelet. He says : ' The
" ' lords spiritual (clergy) had this right no less than
" ' the lords temporal. The parson, being a lord,
" ' expressly claimed the first-fruits of the bride '
{La Sorcerie, p. 62)."

Historians of the Middle Ages have told us of the
remarkable and rapid spread of syphilis shortly after
it was brought from Cuba by Columbus's men. Its
ravages are said to have depopulated large districts in
southern France and Italy. I quote again from Mr.
Remsburg (pp. 455-56 and 456-57):—

" This brazen lewdness of medieval Christianity
" has been driven into privacy ; but it still exists,
"and it is still religious. The Italian patriot, Gari-
"baldi, bears this testimony: 'In Rome, in 1849, I
" ' myself visited every convent. I was present at all
" ' the investigations. Without a single exception we

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 14S

" ' found instruments of torture, and a cellar with the
" ' bodies of infant children.' "

"The two countries which are most thoroughly per-
" vaded by Protestant theology are probably Scotland
" and Sweden ; and if we measure their morality by
" the common though somewhat defective test that is
" furnished by the number of illegitimate births, the
" first is well known to be considerably below the
" average morality of European nations ; while the
" second, in this as in general criminality, has been
" pronounced by a very able and impartial Protestant
" witness, who has had the fullest means of judging,
" to be very far below every other Christian nation "
(European Morals, Vol. I, p. 391).

Lecky's History of European Morals is one of the
most remarkable books written in modern times.
From beginning to end it bears the impress of
scholarship in the highest degree, and everyone who
takes the least interest in human progress should
read the monumental work. I quote the following
from its pages : —

" An Italian bishop of the tenth century epigram-
" matically described the morals of his time when he
" declared that, if he were to enforce the canon against
" unchaste people administering ecclesiastical rites, no
" one would be left in the Church except the boys ; and
" if he were to observe the canons against bastards,
"these also must be excluded. The evil acquired
" such magnitude that a great feudal clergy, bequeath-
" ing the ecclesiastical benefices from father to son,
"appeared more than once likely to arise. A tax
"called ' culagium,' which was, in fact, a licence to
" clergymen to keep concubines, was, during several
" centuries, systematically levied by princes " (R. P. A.
ed.. Vol. II, p. 138).

L

146 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

"Pope Urban II gave licence to the nobles to
" reduce to slavery the wives whom priests had
" obstinately refused to abandon, and after a few
" more acts of severity priestly marriage became
"obsolete. The extent, however, of the disorders
"that still existed is shown by the mournful confes-
"sions of ecclesiastical writers, by the uniform and
" indignant testimony of the poets and prose satirists
"who preceded the Reformation, by the atrocious
" immoralities disclosed in the monasteries at the
" time of their suppression, and by the significant
" prudence of many lay Catholics, who were accus-
"tomed to insist that their priest should take a con-
"cubine, for the protection of the families of his
"parishioners'" {Ibid., p. 140).

We must not, however, imagine that it is only in
its Roman Catholic form that Christianity has pro-
duced such evil fruits. The Protestant Churches
had no popes, and their leaders have rarely been
noted for irregularity of life ; but they possessed the
other defects of the Roman prelates in almost full
development, and the annals of Protestantism are
deeply stained with crimes against humanity. I will
give three short extracts on this point : —

" The Protestant religion is, for the most part, more

' " The first notice of this very remarkable precaution is in a canon
of the Council of Palencia (in Spain), held in 1322, which anathema-
tises laymen who compel their pastors to take concubines (Lea,
p. 324). Sleidan mentions that it was customary in some of the
Swiss cantons for the parishioners to oblige the priest to select a
concubine as a necessary precaution for the protection of his female
parishioners (Ibid., p. 355). Sarpi, in his Hist, of the Council of
Trent, mentions (on the authority of Zuinglius) this Swiss custom.
Nicolas of Clemangis, a leading- member of the Council of Constance,
declared that this custom had become very common, that the laity
were firmly persuaded that priests never lived a life of real celibacy,
and that, where no proofs of concubinage were found, they always
assumed the existence of more serious vice," — Note by Lecky.

Flogrgring a Quakeress.

The early Puritans were an intensely religious
people. They left England and emigrated to America,
where tliey could " worship God according to the dic-
" tates of their own conscience " and prevent others from
doing the same thing. The Quakers were emigrating
to America at about the same time. Both Puritans and
Quakers propitiated the same devils ; both feared
and prostrated themselves before the same God ; both
believed the same fairy tales and the same superstitions. .
Still, the microscopic difference in the religions of the
two classes was sufficient to cause the Puritans to
persecute the Quakers with a great degree of severity.
In some cases the flogging was so severe that the
women died from shock. There is nothing in this
world except Christianity that could so brutalise inan-
kind. If there is, when and where can it be found ?
Certainly not on this planet.

To liicc p. 146,

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 147

" tolerant than the Catholic, simply because the events
" which have given rise to Protestantism have at the
"same time increased the play of the intellect, and
" therefore lessened the power of the clergy. But
"whoever has read the works of the great Calvinist
"divines, and, above all, whoever has studied their
" history, must know that in the sixteenth and seven-
"teenth centuries the desire of persecuting their
" opponents burnt as hotly among them as it did
" among any of the Catholics even in the worst days
"of the papal dominion. This is a mere matter of
"fact, of which anyone may satisfy himself by con-
" suiting the original documents of those times. And
"even now there is more superstition, more bigotry,
"and less of the charity of real religion among the
" lower order of Scotch Protestants than there is
"among the lower order of French Catholics"
(Buckle's History of Civilisation in England, Vol. II,

P- 50-

" In Switzerland Calvin burned Servetus. In
"America the Puritans carried on the same hateful
"traditions, and whipped the harmless Quakers from
" town to town. Wherever the Cross has gone,
"whether held by Roman Catholic, by Lutheran, by
" Calvinist, by Episcopalian, by Presbyterian, by
" Protestant dissenter, it has been dipped in human
" blood, and has broken human hearts. Its effect on
" Europe was destructive, barbarising, deadly, until
"the dawning light of science scattered the thick
" black clouds which issued from the Cross " (Annie
Besant, The Freethinker's Text-book, p. 474).

"Inspired by Mosaic legislation, the Church of
" Rome employed, for centuries, all her vast resources
"in an imaginary conflict with impalpable phantoms,
" whose supposed mediums were the unhappy victims

148 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

" of the spiritual contest. The chiefs of the Reforma-
"tion were as ignorant as their theological opponents
"of the monstrous delusion involved in human inter-
" course with evil spirits. Luther, a steadfast believer
"in every form of Satanic agency, was unmerciful in
" his denunciation of infernal practitioners. Episco-
" palians and Nonconformists in England and Scot-
" land vied with each other in piously hunting down
"fresh victims for immolation at the altar of the
" Hebrew God, who had imposed on mankind the
" religious duty of exterminating witches. And,
"finally, the Pilgrim Fathers, carrying with them
"this most pernicious superstition to a new hemi-
" sphere, piously committed the appalling crimes
"against humanity involved in the persecution and
"judicial murder of the martyrs of Salem " (C. Gill,
The Evolution of Christianity, p. 37).

"In the full consciousness, therefore, that millions
" of Christians regard Luther as almost a prophet or
"an apostle, the Westminster reviewer proceeds with
" an indictment, which depicts the great reformer as
" a preacher of intolerance, licentiousness, and cruelty,
"who discredited human reason, culture, and virtue,
"'took the lowest conceivable view of marriage,'
"almost approved of polygamy, perpetuated 'the
"'temporal government of a personal devil and his
"'assistants,' denounced his opponents in the lan-
"guage of Billingsgate, counselled the massacre and
"even the assassination of rebels, and suggested that
" pitch, sulphur, and hell-fire, if possible, should be
"cast upon the Jews " {Ibid., p. ix).

We must candidly admit, after this survey of the
history of Christianity in Europe, that the claim that
it has even helped in the civilisation of Europe is
unfounded. Beyond question it has retarded the

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 149

development of civilisation in this part of the world.
The missionaries now go out to foreign (especially
inferior) peoples with the wonders of our civilisation,
and boast that the religion of Europe has put it in a
position to achieve these things. They know quite
well that these achievements are due to science, and
that science had to grow independently of and in spite
of the hostility of the Churches. Hence it is that so
many writers now pass a very severe verdict on Chris-
tianity, as the following extracts will show : —

" For many ages religion has been tried. For
"countless centuries man has sought for help from
" heaven. To soften the heart of God mothers sacri-
"ficed their babies; but the God did not hear, did
" not see, and did not help. Naked savages were
"devoured by beasts, bitten by serpents, killed by
"flood and frost. They prayed for help, but their
" God was deaf. They built temples and altars,
"employed priests, and gave of their substance ; but
"the volcano destroyed and the famine came. For
"the sake of God millions murdered their fellow-
" men ; but the God was silent. Millions of martyrs
"died for the honour of God ; but the God was blind.
" He did not see the flames, the scaffolds. He did
" not hear the prayers, the groans. Thousands of
" priests in the name of God tortured their fellow-
" men, stretched them on racks, crushed their feet in
" iron boots, tore out their tongues, extinguished their
" eyes. The victims implored the protection of God ;
"but their God did not hear, did not see. He was
"deaf and blind. He was willing that his enemies
"should torture his friends" (Ingersoll's Works,
Vol. H, pp. 465-66).

" Desperate attempts have been made to save the
" name of religion, as if religion in itself were a

ISO THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

"precious jewel — only it has been 'in the rough,'
" they say, in bad company, and has never shown its
"pure brilliancy. Clear religion, it is said, of its
" unfavourable surroundings, and it will be a beautiful
"thing — a benefit to humanity. Religion is not a
"jewel. It is a dagger — a bloody dagger. It is a
" dagger in its very nature. Brighten it up, and it
"will be a dagger still. Wipe off the blood, and its
" dazzling blade is still ready for slaughter. You
"cannot change that dagger into a jewel to shine in
" peaceful lustre. All the ornaments of religion are
" but the ornaments of a weapon of death " (S. P.
Putnam, Religion a Lie, Religion a Curse, Religion
a Disease, pp. 9-10).

" But religion has never benefited the race ; it has
" never given it one truth, one art, one invention, or
"one discovery. It has been a murderer and a
" despot from the beginning. It has slain millions
" of the human race, and has not preserved one single
"human life. It has always opposed science. It
" has imprisoned the noblest of mankind ; put them
"to the torture and to death. The dungeon, the
"cross, the fagot, and the chain have been its
" constant aids " {Ibid., p. 10).

" Morality requires no temples, no altars, no
" ritual, no churches, no popes, no priests, no Bibles,
" no gods, no prayers, and no sermons. It requires
"no vast expenditure, no processions, no swelling
" music, no auto da fe, no Inquisition, no torture,
"and no fire. It does not beg, it does not rob, it
" does not murder. It demands no sword, no mitre,
" no crucifix, no pealing bell, no gorgeous pew, no
" collection-box, and no missionary fund. It demands
"only the common earth and skies, the fireside, the
" home circle, the genial neighbourhood. It demands

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 151

" only the ordinary highway, the handshake, and the
"good morning, work and happy play, the evening's
" gentle rest, the voice of little children, and the
"common sense of all. How happy the world will
" be when morality prevails, when no rights are
" invaded, when the inevitable ills of life are met
" with mutual sympathy ; when self-respect is the
"universal grace, ennobling each and all — the
" humblest with the greatest. Religion has blackened
" the world ; morality will give it golden days.

" And Science — what grandeur is revealed in that
" noble world ! Science the victorious foe of religion
"and the glory of the human race! Science the
" enlightener, the guide, the minister of ten thousand
"gifts!" {Ibid., pp. 60-61).

" The religious notions of modern civilised peoples,
"which they esteem so highly, profess to be on a
" much higher level than the ' crude superstition ' of
" the savage ; we are told of the great advance which
"civilisation has made in sweeping it aside. That is
" a great mistake. Impartial comparison and analysis
" show that they differ only in their special ' form of
"'faith 'and the outer shell of their creed. In the
"clear light of reason the refined faith of the most
" liberal ecclesiastical religion — inasmuch as it con-
" tradicts the known and inviolable laws of nature —
" is no less irrational a superstition than the crude
" spirit-faith of primitive fetichism on which it looks
" down with proud disdain.

"And if, from this impartial standpoint, we take a
" critical glance at the kinds of faith that prevail
"to-day in civilised countries, we find them every-
" where saturated with traditional superstition. The
" Christian belief in Creation, the Trinity, the Imma-
"culate Conception, the Redemption, the Resurrec-

IS2 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

'tion and Ascension of Christ, and so forth, is just
'as purely imaginative as the belief in the various
'dogmas of the Mohammedan, Mosaic, Buddhistic,
'and Brahmanic religions, and is just as incapable
' of reconciliation with a rational knowledge of
' nature. Each of these religions is for the sincere
'believer an indisputable tfuth, and each regards the
' other as heresy and damnable error. The more
' confidently a particular sect considers itself ' the
' 'only ark of salvation,' and the more ardently this
'conviction is cherished, the more zealously does it
'contend against all other sects and give rise to the
'fearful religious wars that form the saddest pages
' in the book of history. And all the time the
' unprejudiced ' critique of pure reason ' teaches us
'that all these different forms of faith are equally
'false and irrational, mere creatures of poetic fancy
'and uncritical tradition. Rational science must
' reject them all alike as the outcome of superstition.

" The incalculable injury which irrational supersti-
' tion has done to credulous humanity is conspicuously
' revealed in the ceaseless conflict of confessions of
'faith. Of all the wars which nations have waged
' against each other with fire and sword the religious
' wars have been the bloodiest ; of all the forms of
' discord that have shattered the happiness of families
'and of individuals those that arise from religious
'differences are still the most painful. Think of the
' millions who have lost their lives in Christian
' persecutions, in the religious conflicts of Islam and
' of the Reformation, by the Inquisition, and under
'the charge of witchcraft" (Professor Ernst Haeckel,
The Riddle of the Universe, p. 310).

" From the recognition of the fundamental principle
"of our morality we may immediately deduce its

THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES 153

" highest precept, that noble command, which is often
"called the Golden Rule of morals, or, briefly, the
" Golden Rule. Christ repeatedly expressed it in
" the simple phrase : ' Thou shalt love thy neighbour
"'as thyself.' Mark adds that 'there is no greater
" ' commandment than this,' and Matthew says : ' In
" ' these two commandments is the whole law and the
" ' prophets.' In this greatest and highest command-
" ment our monistic ethics is completely at one with
"Christianity. We must, however, recall the his-
"torical fact that the formulation of this supreme
"command is not an original merit of Christ, as the
" majority of Christian theologians affirm and their
" uncritical supporters blindly accept. The Golden
" Rule is 500 years older than Christ ; it was laid
"down as the highest moral principle by many
" Greek and Oriental sages. Pittacus of Mylene, one
" of the seven wise men of Greece, said 620 years
" before Christ : ' Do not that to thy neighbour that
"'thou would'st not suffer from him.' Confucius,
" the great Chinese philosopher and religious founder
" (who rejected the idea of a personal God and of the
"immbrtalityof the soul), said 500 years B.C.: 'Do to
" ' every man as thou would'st have him do to thee ;
" ' and do not to another what thou would'st not have
" ' him do to thee. This precept only dost thou need ;
"'it is the foundation of all other commandments.'
"Aristotle taught, about the middle of the fourth
"century B.C. : 'We must act towards others as we
" ' wish others to act towards us.' In the same sense,
"and partly in the same words, the Golden Rule was
" given by Thales, Isocrates, Aristippus, Sextus the
" Pythagorean, and other philosophers of classic
"antiquity — several centuries before Christ. From
" this collection it is clear that the Golden Rule had

154 THE IMMORALITY OF THE POPES

" a polyphyletic origin — that is, it was formulated by
"a number of philosophers at different times and in
"different places, quite independently of each other.
" Otherwise it must be assumed that Jesus derived it
" from some other Oriental source, from ancient
"Semitic, Indian, Chinese, or especially Buddhistic
" traditions, as has been proved in the case of most
"of the other Christian doctrines " {Ibid., pp. 359-60).
"Superstition intensifies a man. It makes him
" more of what he was before. An evil-natured
" person who takes fright at hell-fire becomes the
"most malevolent of human beings" (Winwood
Reade, The Martrydom of Man, p. 357).

THE ART OF LYING

At a dinner of the Rationalist Press Association in
igii I asserted that the missionaries are, and always
have been, the g'reatest liars on the face of the earth,
and that a good deal of our misconception regarding
China and the nations of the East was due to
missionary falsehood. I advocated the establishment
of a militant Anti-missionary Society to combat the
evil influence of the misguided missionaries. My
remarks will be reproduced in the second part of this
Scrap-Book, but it is necessary to say a few words
here on the general subject of ecclesiastical prevarica-
tion. The version of Christian history and influence
given by the foregoing authorities is so different from
what is generally believed that there is clearly a good
deal of blank untruthfulness in Christian works.

Carlyle, one of our greatest philosophers and one of
the best informed men in the world, referred to the
Roman Catholic Church as " the Church that lies,"
and a more recent writer has christened the Church of
England "the great lying Church," a name which is
applied to the Roman Catholic Church in America.

If anyone wishes to ascertain to what extent the
followers of this great Church will deviate from the
truth, let him read a Roman Catholic history,
written in the Middle Ages, or even a Roman
Catholic History of Ireland written at the present
time. To these pious writers truth is not at all a
factor in the equation ; truth is not good enough for
history. The followers of this great religion demand

iS6 THE ART OF LYING

something much stronger, as will be seen by a few
illustrations which I have given in this volume.

A good example of Roman Catholic lying in recent
times will be found in the excellent work of Eugene
Simon, and also in a book entitled Les Cliinois Peints
Par Eux-Memes, by the Attache Militaire de Chine
at Paris,

The French Society of La Sainte Enfance have a
missionary station in the interior of China, and in a
report which they published some years ago they gave
a heartrending account of how the Chinese at that
place destroyed female babes by giving them to swine
to eat. This report greatly offended the Chinese, and
they remonstrated through their Paris Legation
against the publication of such an outrageous
falsehood ; nevertheless, the next annual report con-
tained the same story, and the Legation could do
nothing to prevent the publication of this falsehood
every year.

Eugene Simon, in his travels, visited the place where
these events were supposed to have taken place, and
saw the priest in charge. He asked him why it was
that he persisted in publishing the swine story every
year, when it had been denied over and over again
and proved to be false. His reply was : " TYiSif. petite
histoire brings to us over a million francs a year ; it
is the best asset we have."'

But it should not be supposed for a single moment
that the Catholics are the only Christians that lie.
When Dr. Torrey, an American evangelist, came to
England a few years ago to save the souls of English-
men that would otherwise have perished, it was found
that it was quite impossible for him to tell the truth.

" This will be gone into more fully in a later chapter on Infanticide.

THE ART OF LYING iS7

He said things in his sermons which he knew to be
absolute falsehoods regarding contemporary history
in the United States ; and, although the falsity of his
assertions was pointed out to him over and over again,
he still continued to lie. Finally, the saintly Mr.
Stead took the matter up, and denounced him as a
liar.

In almost every Protestant Church in England or
America you will find that the young people are
taught that Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and Colonel
Ing^rsoU all recanted, and expressed their great
sorrow when they came to die. Although they passed
away peacefully, the clergy refer to their deaths as
being of a most horrible character, knowing all the
time that the whole story is a falsehood. Even Mr.
Roosevelt, when he was a much younger man,
described Thomas Paine as a " filthy little atheist " —
three lies in three words.

On one occasion, when I was visiting the British
Museum of Natural History, I saw a Church of
England parson, accompanied by quite a number of
children, stop before the statue of Darwin. The
parson said : " Darwin adhered to his theories during
his lifetime, but when he was about to die he
repented." The parson when he said this knew it
was a lie. When Darwin's work. The Origin of
Species, was first published, I read it with absorbing
pleasure — in fact, I was completely infatuated with it.
It appeared to me that this great man had proved all
he set out to prove, and had left no possible loophole
for attack. Professor Andrew White, the historian,
in speaking of the advent of this famous book and of
its effect upon the parsons, said : " It was like
" running a ploughshare through an ant-hill ; they
" ran in every direction in a great state of excitement,

iS8 THE ART OF LYING

"not knowing what to do." However, in the end, as
no argument was possible, they were forced to resort
to lying and personal abuse, and these they exercised
to the fullest extent of their powers. No one was able
to attack the Origin of Species by fair argument.
Later on clergymen of every sect relied altogether
upon falsehood, and the same vicious practice obtains
to-day. Ask a Catholic about the work, and he will
say : " Oh, Science is bankrupt — everyone has dis-
" carded the Darwinian theory." The Protestants
say : "Yes, there was a lot said about it in the early
" seventies, but the whole thing has been abandoned ;
" nobody believes in it now — in fact, you never hear
"it mentioned." The men who make these state-
ments know very well that the Darwinian theory is
accepted by the whole world of thinking men.

If anyone should wish to make a test in regard to
Roman Catholic lying, let him ask a Catholic if his
Church ever burnt anyone at the stake on account of
religious belief, or the lack of it ; or if it ever
persecuted or killed people on account of a difference
in religious belief. Ask him if his Church burnt
Bruno at the stake and persecuted Galileo. He will
deny it, in spite of the fact that scores of Roman
Catholic clerics have written tons of literature to
justify the burning of heretics and witches. Of late
years the state of civilisation is such that people are
shocked and horrified by the acts that were justified
by the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages.
The persecution of Galileo is a thorn in their side,
and not a few Roman Catholic priests have attempted
to discover some way of evading it by untruth. But
all systems of falsehood relating to Galileo have
proved failures, and at least one Roman Catholic
priest has since admitted this, advising his brethren

THE ART OF LYING 159

to cease lying and to acknowledge the facts, because
there is no other way out of their difficulty.

I think it must be admitted by all that our mission-
aries have become very expert at lying. Long ex-
perience in the art has developed great proficiency ;
but it must not be supposed for a single moment that
they have the exclusive monopoly of this peculiar
system. The Chinese themselves, as will be seen
by the following, are quite as expert in lying about
the missionaries as the missionaries are in lying
about them. The lying, in fact, is mutual, with a
slight lead in favour of the Chinese : —

"The Child-eating Legend. — It is not difficult
' to understand how the child-stealing and eating
' legend which figures in every anti-missionary riot
' (and, indeed, in every street urchin's ribaldry quite
' as much as ' foreign devil ') may have arisen in honest
'misconception. The doctrine of 'the body and
' ' blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken
' 'and received by the faithful at the Lord's Supper,'
' must obviously present considerable difficulty to the
' mind of an unsympathetic and suspicious China-
' man " (Robertson Scott, The People of China, p. 43).
" Some few years ago a Chinese pamphlet, entitled
' A Death-blo-w to Corrupt Doctrines, came to light,
' which proved to be a subtle and most powerful
'attack on foreigners and the Christianity which is
' inseparable from them. The book opens with an
' extract from the ' Sacred Edict ' suppressing strange
' religions, thus artfully giving the whole work the
' stamp of official authority. Following this is what
' purports to be a collection of facts respecting Roman
' Catholicism, which contains some grains of truth,
'but intermingled with the vilest falsehoods and
'almost unspeakable blasphemies. The indulgence

i6o THE ART OF LYING

of the basest passions is described as the chief
characteristic of all connected with the Christian
religion. An accusation currently reported and
believed among the people is stated as follows :
' At death both eyes are secretly taken out, and the
' orifices sealed up with plaster. The reason for
' extracting the eyes is this : From one hundred
' pounds of Chinese lead can be extracted eight
' pounds of silver, and the remaining ninety-two
' pounds of lead can be sold at the original cost ;
' but the only way to obtain this silver is by com-
' pounding the eyes of Chinamen. The eyes of
' foreigners are of no use for this purpose ; hence
' they do not take out those of their own people,
' but only those of the Chinese.' The second part
consists of miscellaneous quotations selected from
Chinese books of history, travel, etc. From the
Mirror of the West an extract is thus quoted : ' In
' England they have the art of cutting out paper
' men and horses, and, by burning charms and
' repeating incantations, transforming them into real
' ' men and horses. These they use to terrify their
''enemies. They may, however, be dissolved by
' ' beating a gong, or by spouting water over them.'
' Another work. Records by the Far-travelled Sight-
seer, furnishes this item : ' The people of France,
'without exception, follow the false and corrupt
' T'een-choo religion. They have also devilish arts
' by which they transform men into beasts, so that
' those who see them cannot discern the difference.
'They continually go to the various seaports and
' other places, and kidnap the people of the Flowery
' Land, and carry them to their own country for
' slaves ' " (L. N. Wheeler, The Foreigner in China,
pp. 175-76).

THE ART OF LYING i6i

" ' As to these insubordinate English who live on a
" 'contemptible mudbank in the ocean, and are ruled
" ' sometimes by a female and sometimes by a male,
" ' their specific character is half human, half beast,
"'described in the Silurian records as the "naked
"'"reptile," and termed in China te-jin'" {Ibid.,

P- 177)-

" ' But the injurious character of their pernicious
" ' principles cannot be thoroughly exhausted. They
" ' do not dress the tombs, nor worship the parental
" ' tablet, thus ignoring their ancestors. Their father
"'they address as "venerable elder brother," and
"'their mother as "venerable elder sister," thus
" ' ignoring the parental relation. Daughters in a
" ' family are not given in marriage, but retained for
" ' the disposition of the bishop, thus ignoring the
" ' matrimonial relation. They have no distinction
" ' of rich and poor ; but those who join their com-
" ' munion give up their money, indicating an utter
" ' absence of modesty. They do not observe the
" ' distinction of male and female, but all bathe in
" ' common, thus betraying an utter want of shame.

" ' They cut out the heart and scoop out the eyes
" ' (of the dead), using the remainder of the carcass

"'as medicine for cattle They administer the

" ' stupefying decoction of ansesthetic juice to stultify
" ' the mind and confuse the thoughts ' " {Ibid., p. i8o).

" ' The wealth of our central flowery land is a
" ' hundred thousand times that of the barbarians,
" 'and their hearts have long been yearning after it,
" ' so that their present attitude resembles the aim of
" ' Sze Ma-shaou, as the mere traveller may under-
" ' stand. If a speedy precaution is not taken to drive
" ' them out, we shall find some day our ancient
" ' civilisation of several thousand years' standing

M

i62 THE ART OF LYING

" ' supplanted by the semi-canine customs of the
"'savage regions — a consummation much to be
" ' deprecated ' " {Ibid., p. i8i).

These lies compare favourably with standard Chris-
tian falsehoods about Ingersoll : —

"Some person, expecting to add another gem to his
" crown of glory, put in circulation the story that one
" of my daughters had joined the Presbyterian Church
" — a story without the slightest foundation — and,
"although denied a hundred times, it is still being
" printed and circulated for the edification of the
"faithful. Every few days I receive some letter of
" inquiry as to this charge, and I have industriously
" denied it for years ; but up to the present time it
" shows no signs of death — not even of weakness.

"Another religious gentleman put in print the
"charge that my son, having been raised in the
"atmosphere of infidelity, had become insane and
"died in an asylum. Notwithstanding the fact that
" I never had a son, the story still goes right on, and
" is repeated day after day without the semblance of a
"blush" (Ingersoll's Works, Vol. XI, p. 394).

" If there is an abused word in our language, it is
" 'spirituality.'

" It has been repeated over and over for several
" hundred years by pious pretenders and snivellers as
" though it belonged exclusively to them.

"In the early days of Christianity the 'spiritual'
" renounced the world with all its duties and obliga-
"tions. They deserted their wives and children.
"They became hermits and dwelt in caves. They
"spent their useless years in praying for their
"shrivelled and worthless souls. They were too
"'spiritual' to love women, to build homes, and
"to labour for children. They were too 'spiritual'

THE ART OF LYING 163

"to earn their bread, so they became beggars, and
" stood by the highways of life and held out their
" hands and asked alms of Industry and Courage.
"They were too 'spiritual' to be merciful. They
" preached the dogma of eternal pain, and gloried
" in ' the wrath to come.' They were too ' spiritual '
" to be civilised, so they persecuted their fellow-men
" for expressing their honest thoughts. They were so
" ' spiritual ' that they invented instruments of torture,
"founded the Inquisition, appealed to the whip, the
" rack, the sword, and the fagot. They tore the flesh
" of their fellow-men with hooks of iron, buried their
" neighbours alive, cut off their eyelids, dashed out
"the brains of babes, and cut off the breasts of
" mothers. These ' spiritual ' wretches spent day
"and night on their knees, praying for their own
" salvation and asking God to curse the best and
" noblest of the world.

"Joan Calvin was intensely 'spiritual' when he
" warmed his fleshless hands at the flames that
"consumed Servetus" {Ibid., p. 481).

" Thomas Paine was a grovelling wretch because
" he devoted his life to the preservation of the rights
" of man, and Voltaire lacked the ' spiritual ' because
" he abolished torture in France and attacked with the
" enthusiasm of a divine madness the monster that
" was endeavouring to drive the hope of liberty from
"the heart of man.

" Humboldt was not ' spiritual ' enough to repeat
"with closed eyes the absurdities of superstition, but
" was so lost to all the ' skyey influences ' that he was
"satisfied to add to the intellectual wealth of the
" world.

" Darwin lacked ' spirituality,' and in its place had
"nothing but sincerity, patience, intelligence, the

i64 THE ART OF LYING

" spirit of investigation, and the courage to give his
" honest conclusions to the world. He contented
" himself with giving to his fellow-men the greatest
"and the sublimest truths that man has spoken since
" lips have uttered speech " {Ibid. , pp. 482-83).

"'Spirituality,' for the most part, is a mask worn
" by idleness, arrogance, and greed.

"Some people imagine that they are 'spiritual'
" when they are sickly.

" It may be well enough to ask : ' What is it to be
" ' really spiritual ? ' " {Ibid., p. 484).

" Nothing is more sickening than the ' spiritual '
" whine — the pretence that crawls at first and talks
"about humility " {Ibid., p. 485).

In some respects, indeed, the whole of our modern
religious life is a piece of insincerity and mendacity.
The clergy recite, week by week, theological creeds
in which they have, for a very large part, ceased to
believe ; the educated laity go to church and acquiesce
in these creeds. In almost every school in England
children are daily educated in lies under the name of
"Bible history." Listen to the acute French critic,
Max Nordau, commenting on the religious life of our
time in his Conventional Lies of Civilisation : —

" The formulas used in public worship by all estab-
" lished religions are founded upon ideas and customs
"which originated in the most ancient barbaric
" periods in Asia and Northern Africa. We can see
" in the observances and prayers of public worship,
"and in the festivals and offerings of Jews and Chris-
" tians of the present day, the traces of the worship of
"the sun by the Aryans, of the mysticism of the
" Buddhists, and of the worship of Isis and Osiris
" by the Egyptians. And the people of the nineteenth

THE ART OF LYING i6s

" century assume a reverent and solemn expression as
" they repeat the kneelings, gestures, ceremonies, and
" prayers invented thousands of years ago on the banks
" of the Nile or the Ganges, by the miserable, unde-
" veloped human beings of the stone or bronze ages,
" to manifest in some material way their conceptions
" of the universe, its origin and its law — all of them
" conceptions of the rankest heathenism.

"As we study this disgraceful comedy, the more
" we expose to view the grotesque contrast between
" the modern tone of mind and the established
" religions, the more difficult does it become to speak
" calmly and dispassionately on this subject. The
" inconsistency is so superhumanly nonsensical, so
" gigantic, that the arguments set forth in detail
" against it appear as inadequate and inefficient as a
" broom to sweep out the sands of Sahara ; only the
" satire of a Rabelais or the inkstand of a Luther
" thrown against it could do it justice " (p. 58).

" Governments send out expeditions to the Soudan,
"and laugh at the pretensions of the black Prophet
"there, who forbids their emissaries to enter into his
" domain, and declares that if they disobey him he
" will strike them with the anger of the Supreme
" Fetish, whose prophet and favourite he is. Who
"can point out to me the difference between that
" poor negro and the Pope of Rome ? Each claims
" to be the high priest of God, whose thunder and
" lightning he can control, with the privilege of
" recommending certain people to God's favour or
" vengeance. Where is the logic of the cultivated
" European who looks upon one as an absurd
" pretender, and the other as an imposing figure
" worthy of all reverence ? " (p. 59).

" When a law-abiding citizen listens in succession

i66 THE ART OF LYING

"to a lecture on science delivered by some professor
" appointed by the Government, and then to a sermon
" preached by some professor of theology, also
"appointed by the Government and armed with the
"same authority — his mind must be in a curious
" predicament between the two. One tells him that
"after death the organism is resolved to its consti-
" tuent elements ; the other describes how certain
" persons not only remained uncorrupted by death,
" but awoke again to life. And both doctrines are
" presented to him under the authority of the State ;
" the taxes he pays are applied to their salaries, and
"the teachings of both are declared by the Govern-
" ment to be equally true and necessary. Which
" professor is the unlucky citizen to believe ? The
" theologian ? Then the State is taxed to support a
" wilful liar as professor of physiology ; his theories
" and assertions must be arbitrary deceptions, and yet
" he is commissioned to educate the young men of
"the country. Or is he to believe the scientist?
" Then the theological professor is the liar, and the
"Government pays for deliberate lies as in the other
" case. Would it be a matter to cause surprise if the
"loyal citizen, between the horns of this dilemma,
" should lose more or less of the respect he had
" hitherto felt for the Government?

" And even this is not all. Those old women who
" inveigle servant-girls out of their money under the
" pretence of giving them a love-philter to win back
" the hearts of their inconstant sweethearts are
"arrested and fined by the authorities; but at the
" same time those men are paid fine salaries and
" upheld by the authorities who obtain the money
" of the servant-girls by the no less false pretence
"of getting their defunct relatives out of the fires

THE ART OF LYING 167

" of purgatory by some hocus-pocus arrangement "
(pp. 62-63).

" As I remarked before, it is impossible to describe
"this gigantic imposition of religion in all its details ;
" I must confine myself to some of its leading points
" in order to avoid incessant repetitions. This fraud
" penetrates and demoralises our whole public and
" private existence. The State is guilty of imposition
" when it sets apart special days for prayer or thanks-
" giving, when it appoints ministers and calls the
"higher clergy into the House of Lords; the com-
" munity is guilty of the same lie when it builds
"churches; the judge is acting a lie when he is
" passing sentence upon some person who has been
" blaspheming or insulting God or the Church ; the
" minister, inbued with the modern tone of thought,
" knows that he is guilty of deception when he takes
" pay for repeating dogmas and conducting cere-
" monies which he is fully aware are nothing but
" nonsensical frauds ; the enlightened citizen knows
" that he is a hypocrite when he affects an outward
" reverence for the man of God, when he goes to
"communion, or presents his child for baptism. The
" continued existence and growth of these ancient,
" partly prehistoric forms of worship in the midst of
" our modern civilisation is a monstrous fact, and the
" position accorded to the minister, the European
"equivalent of the Indian medicine-man and the
"African almamy, is such an insolent triumph of
"cowardice, hypocrisy, and mental indolence over
" truth and courage of opinion as would be sufficient,
"taken alone, to characterise our civilisation as a
"complete imposition, and our political and social
"conditions of life as necessarily temporary " (p. 65).

i68 THE ART OF LYING

New York City has a thousand churches ; Chicago
half as many. Both raise large sums of money, and
send missionaries to China to teach religion and
morality to that benighted nation. I quote the
following from a daily paper : — ■

" According to evidence given by an official investi-
" gator before the municipal vice inquiry in New York,
" Chicago is the worst city in the world, beyond doubt
" — worse than any city in the Orient, or Europe, or
"America. Mr. Samuel London was the investigator
"examined, and he had tabulated in the card-index
"style all the details of vice he had collected here and
" elsewhere with the help of a corps of fifteen assistants.

" Mr. Samuel London's speciality for the last two
"years has been to examine what tribute vice in the
"form of disorderly houses and degenerate women
"pays to men in New York, civilians and police
" included. Mr. London swore that in New York
" 26,000 women hand over part or most of their
"earnings to men connected in one way or another
"with the 'business'; that there are 6,100 men in
" New York who live by or on the proceeds of some
"end of the 'business,' either as procurers, 'white
" ' slave ' traffickers, or controllers of women ; that
" there are fifty-one cafes in New York where groups
" of these men meet regularly ; that each of these
"cafes pays ^10 to ^15 a month for police protec-
"tion; that there are 105 disorderly houses in the
" city in which women are exploited by men connected
"with the 'business'; and that these 105 houses pay
" £20 to ;^8o a month for protection."

THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION

There is not much to be found on this planet that is
not the result of evolution. All our animals and
plants have been evolved from something which, as a
rule, was much smaller and not so well fitted for the
environment in which it found itself. Our laws, our
languages, and our religions have all been evolved
from something much simpler ; the whole world is in
a constant state of transition. The north pole of our
earth is now marking out an approximate circle in the
northern heavens. At the present time it points very
nearly to the North Star. In 37,500 years the pole
will have marked a circle in the northern heavens,
and will again be very near the Polar Star. It will,
however, have moved a perceptible distance in the
direction of the constellation Hercules.

Let us see now what will take place while this great
clock of Nature is making one turn on the dial of the
heavens. All the languages that exist in the world
at the present day will have passed away. Our laws
and literature and our mode of life will be completely
changed ; and by that time, if we have any religion
at all, we shall have changed it at least twelve times.

Man is an animal, and is governed by exactly the
same laws as those which govern all other animals.
He is by no means an exception to the general rule.
Man has probably been on the earth in the form
of a man for more than a million years, and has
gradually advanced to his present physical and mental
condition.

169

I70 THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION

The common dog is related to the wolf. By artificial
selection the fierce nature of some such animal as
the wolf has been completely changed, and the dog
has become one of the most loving and intelligent
animals in the world. By careful breeding we have
dogs that weigh 220 lbs. each, and others that weigh
only a single pound. The difference between a
greyhound and a bulldog is so great that an inhabi-
tant of Mars might take them for totally different
animals. There are probably a hundred different
breeds of dogs, all from the same ancestry. There
may be a thousand varieties of pigeons, differing in a
marked degree from each other, yet all have been
bred from the common rock-pigeon. The original
horse was a little animal not much bigger than a fox,
but by careful selection we now have many horses
that weigh three quarters of a ton each. I believe
there are some that weigh fully a ton.

It will therefore be seen that very great changes
can be produced by artificial selection. If dogs were
left to themselves to breed as they liked, in a few years
we should have only yellow dogs of moderate size,
such as one sees at Constantinople.

Should there arrive on this planet a race of men
much more powerful than ourselves, who were able to
manipulate us as we do horses and cattle, they would
be able in a few hundred years to produce a consider-
able number of different breeds of men. Some would
be blonds with blue eyes, very slim, and probably
about eight feet in height ; others would be short and
very broad, with dark complexion and curly hair ;
other breeds would be of ordinary size, very athletic,
and suitable for soldiers. We should even have a
bantam race of men, probably not more than eighteen
inches in height. But this is not likely to occur.

THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION 171

We have not been able so far to change greatly the
size or shape of the race, not because it is impossible,
but because we have not attempted to do so. We
have, however, succeeded in producing both giants
and dwarfs in regard to mental endowment.

The largest dog is about only 220 times as heavy as
the smallest ; but the mind of Humboldt, of Darwin,
or of Spencer, is certainly a thousand times as great
as that of the ordinary Salvation Army preacher.

About eighteen hundred years ago we commenced
to modify the thinking power of the brain of man ;
that is to say, we produced a most elaborate and
ridiculous system of theology, abounding in many of
the most absurd and silly fables that one could possibly
imagine. These were presented to mankind as being
absolute facts, and everyone who did not accept and
believe all these ridiculous fables was put to death,
generally by being burnt alive. This went on from
year to year, with many additions to the fables which
mankind were ordered to accept and believe. A class
of very crafty and unscrupulous men managed to get
their living by presenting these fables to the people ;
but men were always appearing who could not possibly
believe some of the most ridiculous. The doctrine
that it was possible for the priest to take some wheaten
flour, manufacture it into a bit of bread, and then, by
certain incantations, change it into the flesh of some-
one who had lived hundreds of years before, was too
much for one to believe, and many millions lost their
lives because they expressed their doubts about the
truth of this preposterous doctrine. Hundreds of
thousands were burnt alive at the stake, and it is
certain that many millions — some historians say a
thousand millions — were done to death, until a breed
of men was produced by artificial selection that could

172 THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGION

believe the most preposterous doctrines. In fact, the
man who actually took pleasure in exercising his faith on
something that he knew to be false, and in persuading
himself that he believed it, stood the best chance of
living and propagating his specie. It was in this way
that we produced a race of men who could think on
almost any subject except religion. An eminent philo-
sopher has said that the inability of a great number
of mankind at the present time to exercise their reason
on religious matters is due to clerical selection, and it
is this peculiarity of our people that is such a curiosity
to the Chinese. They cannot understand how a nation
can be so wise on certain scientific and mechanical
lines, and still be completely without the power of
reasoning on religious matters. They ask them-
selves : " How is it possible for a people who can
invent and make locomotives, watches, and the
wonderful machinery of Europe and America, to be
able to believe in the existence of devils?" To
the Chinese a belief in devils is the most debasing
form of superstition. Our religion is essentially a
devil-religion, because it has vastly more devils than
gods. The Devil is the cornerstone of the whole
edifice ; the place occupied by the Devil, and the fact
that our whole religious system fairly bristles with
devils, caused the Chinese to give it a descriptive
name — "The Devil-Religion." To-day this is the
official name of the Christian religion throughout
the great Chinese Empire. Question : Have we not
reached a stage in civilisation which will enable us to
abandon the belief in devils altogether? Why should
we spend our money, and dwarf the minds of our
children, by teaching them demonology in the public
schools ?

Bible Pictures.

The DE^■IL i: Angels.

Although the Devil claimed the ownership of the entire
world and the kingdoms thereof, he very often had
trouble with the angels, and in some cases was over-
powered and even locked up, as will be seen by the
following quotation and the picture taken from the
Bible : " And I saw an angel come down from Heaven,
" having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain
" in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old
" serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him
" a thousand years. And cast him into a bottomless pit,
" and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he
" should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand
" years should be fulfilled ; and after that he must be
"loosed a little season " (Rev. xx, 1-4).

I have to express my regrets to my Chinese readers
that I have not been able to find in any of our religious
literature the exact date that His Satanic Majesty was
locked up, nor the date of his release. Neither have I
been able to find anything relating to the time that he
will be allowed to run at large to the wreck and ruin of
the world.

To face p. 17:;

SECTION II.

CHRISTIANITY

IN CHINA

INTRODUCTION

Colonel Tcheng-Ki -Tong, Imperial Military
Attache of Cliina, stationed at Paris, has written
a work entitled Les Chinois Peints Par Eux-Memes.
He commences with these words : " Dix annees de
" sejour en Europe m'ont permis de juger que, de
" tous les pays de la terre, la Chine est le plus
" imparfaitment connu." It is not, however, true
that China is the least known of all the countries of
the world to-day ; but it certainly was true up to the
tenth century. Neither the Jehovah of the Jews, who
made the world, nor his only begotten Son, had ever
heard of it. Later, according to the Roman way of
thinking, the world extended " from the confines of
" Tartary to the Pillars of Hercules." Alexander is
said to have wept because there were no more worlds
to conquer ; yet at that time there was a highly
civilised nation in existence which for wealth and
population was tenfold greater than his "empire,"
though he was unaware of its existence. There is,
however, proof that some of the ancients did know
something of China. It was called by them Cathay,
and it was represented that the people were very
peaceable and well-disposed, not averse to trading,
and that they made iron of an excellent quality.
They also made a very beautiful fabric " from a kind
" of a dew that they combed off the trees in the early
"morn." This beautiful fabric was, of course, silk.

It is probable that the ancestors of the Chinese
immigrated to China from the Valley of the

175

176 INTRODUCTION

Euphrates by way of Northern India about ten
thousand years ago, that they found the country
inhabited by a semi-civilised race, and that they
had occasional wars with them, finally driving them
to the seaboard. On account of the much greater
skill of the Chinese in agriculture, they gradually
displaced the aborigines. The Koreans, Japanese,
and the inhabitants of some of the islands are the
descendants of these people. Some of them were
forced into Siberia, where they crossed Behring
Straits into America, and gradually worked their
way southward, displacing the weaker race, the
Aztecs, who were driven into Mexico, ultimately
to be exterminated by the Spaniards. The American
Red Indian is, therefore, the descendant of the
original inhabitants of China.

The Chinese were a civilised people before they
entered China, and they still further progressed,
ultimately establishing a very high order of civi-
lisation. It appears from their early records that
they once took a much greater interest in religion
than they do at the present time. It is probable,
from what we can learn of their early history, that
there is no possible form of religion which they did
not possess at some time or other. Professor John
Draper tells us that in their early history incarnations
were innumerable. It is, I think, a fact which will be
admitted by thinking men that all people at a certain
stage of civilisation have incarnations, and the Chinese
had reached this stage probably about eight thousand
years ago. Their priests used to perform miracles
exactly as our priests did, and Draper tells us that
miracles became cheap when the professional juggler
was able to beat the priest at his own trade, . This is
equally true of European civilisation.

INTRODUCTION 177

Confucius was born about 500 B.C. As a teacher
of philosophy and morality no inhabitant of this
planet can be compared with him. The Golden Rule,
which ought to be the foundation of all religions, was
first enunciated by this great man. It is claimed by
some that his system is not a religion at all, because
it does not deal with the supernatural ; and in this
they are quite right. No religion is, or ever has
been, founded on fact. Religion depends upon faith.
Facts are not welcome to religion ; it requires some-
thing very much stronger than the truth. One needs
no faith to believe a fact ; but if one has sufficient
faith one can believe anything except the truth. There
is no merit in believing a fact, because it requires no
faith. It ought to be evident to everyone that it
would be absolutely impossible to have a religion
founded on fact. If it were founded on fact, it would
not be a religion at all. Therefore we must conclude
that the system of Confucius, since it regarded truth
only and warned the people against superstition, is
not a religion.

Buddhism was introduced into China about 450
years B.C. Historians are not agreed as to the exact
date. Buddhism, unlike Confucianism, early degen-
erated into a religion in the fullest sense of the term,
and should be considered the first and the greatest of
that particular type, which, under different names,
has spread all over China, part of Japan, Burmah,
and the whole of Europe except that part occupied
by Turkey. It is also the universal type for the
whole American Continent. It appears that Buddhism
first made its appearance in Northern India. Its
origin is almost identical with that of Christianity ; it
teaches the Immaculate Conception, the birth of a
God, the Saviour of the world, the Massacre of the

L

178 INTRODUCTION

Innocents, the Crucifixion, the Descent into Hell,
and the Resurrection. It is, therefore, not necessary
to describe it fully.

This form of religion was introduced into Egypt in
a modified form ; it was later developed at Alexandria
and in Rome, and made the foundation of Roman
Catholicism, which was afterwards amalgamated with
the original Paganism of the Romans. I am giving
abundant quotations from historical works which will
enable the student to trace the progress of Buddhism
from Northern India to Rome.

Another religion of China is called Taoism ; its
followers believe in the transmigration of souls, and
also that the character of a man depends largely upon
the character of the individuals through which the
soul has passed before it entered his body. Accord-
ing to this doctrine, many of the propagators of Chris-
tianity must have had a soul that had passed at least
twice through the body of a tiger before it came into
their possession.

In a mechanical and scientific way the Chinese
have done much for the world. We are indebted to
them for the mariner's compass, for paper, and for
the art of printing with moveable type. They were
the first to make silk ; they invented tailor-made
clothes, were the first to make gunpowder, and the
first to make porcelain. They were the first to make
beautiful brocaded silk fabrics, and they invented
many kinds of pigments and chemicals that are now
in extensive use. There is ample evidence that they
discovered America more than i , 500 years ago. There
is also evidence in their historical works that their
junks ascended the Asiatic coasts, followed the Aleu-
tian Islands until they arrived at Alaska, and then
descended the coast as far as Yucatan. Loh Fung

A Buddhist Temple.

Showing the adoration of the Holy Virgin, Mother of
God, and Queen of Heaven. Observe the little Buddha
in the Virgin's arms. This system of worship ante-
dates Christianity by many centuries.

To face p. 178.

INTRODUCTION 179

Lu assured me that the Chinese had known of the
existence of America for thousands of years, and there
is plenty of evidence to prove all that is claimed.

At the Columbian Exhibition, held in the United
States, the Chinese records were examined, and it
was found that their accounts of America were correct.
It was recorded in their ancient books that they
travelled southward, following the coast, and came
to a warm country, where they found that the natives
put the same value upon silver as upon gold. Not
only this, but the Roman Catholic priests who first
went to Florida, on learning that it was possible to
get through to the Pacific, sent an expedition of
American Indians across the Continent, and on their
return they reported that they had discovered a peculiar
people. They described their looks and dress, and
the pigtail hanging down their back. They found
them washing the sands of the rivers for gold. At
that time the sands of all the rivers were very rich in
gold. I think, therefore, that we must admit that the
Chinese discovered America. In Mrs. Alec Tweedie's
remarkable work, Mexico, there is a very clear
account of Chinese objects and characters which she
discovered in Yucatan.

It is said that no nation can be great without agri-
culture, and the Chinese are the greatest agriculturists
in the world. They can get a good deal more out of the
land than the best of Europeans ; and on account of
their natural religion, or lack of a bad one, they are,
considered as a whole, the most moral people extant.

Before the missionaries entered their country and
contaminated their people, there was less crime against
persons and property in China, in proportion to the
population, than in any other country. Although
the Chinese had never made a telescope, still, with

i8o INTRODUCTION

the instruments they had, they were able to determine
the angle of the axis of the earth to the ecliptic to
within three seconds of arc, and this more than 3,000
years ago. Lo Fung Lu, the Chinese Minister, who
was a very learned man, assured me that this was a
fact. They knew that the earth was a sphere, and
that it rotated on its axis. Two thousand seven
hundred years later we in Europe, the followers of
the gentle Jesus, burnt Bruno at the stake and per-
secuted Galileo for teaching that the earth was a
sphere and rotated on its axis. It is worth noting
that no sooner was Europe convinced of the truth of
the rotation of the earth than the missionaries too"k
advantage of it in order to popularise their dogmas in
foreign countries.

It is a very curious fact that many people in the
eastern States of America object strongly to immigra-
tion from Italy, Hungary, and Greece on account of
the lazy and vicious character of the emigrants ; while
in California and the other Pacific States they object
still more strongly to the Chinese, even going to the
extent of mobbing and murdering them, not on account
of their vices, but because of their many virtues.
According to the hooligan inhabitants of these States,
the Chinaman is a bad citizen because he works very
steadily, does too much work in a day, works too
many days in a week, and does not spend his money
in a rational manner, but takes it back to China with
him. He does not patronise the grog-shop, but leads
a very quiet and orderly life, and is correspondingly
hated for it by the lazy, drunken, hooligan class. As,
however, the hooligans are able to vote, the politicians
have to take their wishes into consideration. The
massacre of the Chinese on the Pacific coast has been
a disgrace to civilisation.

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

The truth about China and its people breaks slowly
on the mind of the West, in spite of our marvellous
progress in means of communication. This may
seem remarkable when we reflect that Europeans had
a fair knowledge of the people of the Far East two
thousand years ago. A considerable commerce took
place with China under the ancient civilisations ; and
the great Roman geographer and natural historian,
Pliny, was able to give his contemporaries an idea of
the Chinese which, although it necessarily suffers
from the great difficulty of travel and communication
in ancient times, is nevertheless far nearer the truth
than descriptions which were current in Europe in
the nineteenth century. Archibald J. Little, in
Through the Yang-Tse Gorges, p. 251, quotes from
Pliny — Ammtan, I, 23, c. 6 — as follows: —

"The Chinese, though of mild disposition, yet
" having something of the brute nature, avoid inter-
" course with other mortals, but yet are ready to trade
" and barter.

" The Chinese live quietly, always keeping clear of
" arms and warfare ; and, as peaceful and quiet men
"are fond of repose, they cause their neighbours no
" trouble.

" They have a pleasant, healthy climate ; a clear
"atmosphere; gentle, favourable winds; in very
" many places dusky woods (of mulberry trees), from
" which, working the fleecy produce of the trees
"with frequent sprinklings of water, they comb off a

i8i

i82 THE CHINESE PEOPLE

"very delicate and fine substance — a mixture of the
"down and moisture; and, sprinkling the thread of
" it, they make silk, which was formerly only used by
"the nobles, but now by the lowest classes without
"any distinction.

" Nor are they less celebrated for a most delicate
"wool (cotton), which they collect from the trees in
"their own country, and send to all parts of the world
"to be made into costly garments."

The later demoralisation of Europe almost put an
end to this commerce of East and West ; and, when
it was resumed in the great age of navigation, the
Christian prejudice was apt to warp the minds of
visitors to China. When the missionaries found it
necessary to obtain vast sums of money for preaching
the Gospel to the Chinese, they naturally depicted
the character of the " heathen " in the darkest colours
they could venture to use. As a general belief existed
in Europe that non-Christian peoples were necessarily
at a much lower level than Christian, it was not
difficult to give a very unflattering version of Chinese
civilisation, religion, and morality ; and the most
absurd and calumnious ideas are still largely held in
regard to the Chinese. But the increase of travel
and the fact that many European travellers no longer
hold the Christian faith have contributed to spread
the truth, and a more just appreciation of the great
Chinese civilisation is gaining ground. One or two
missionaries, even, have been compelled to protest
against the common slanders of the Chinese ; and a
large body of influential lay writers have paid very
high tributes to the people, whom they have learned
to respect. Of these writers Mr. Chester Holcombe,
at one time Acting Minister of the United States at
Pekin, is particularl}'- authoritative and well informed,

Preparing Silk for the Market.

The Chinese were the first to cultivate tlie silk worm
and to produce silken fabrics ; and at the present time
they produce vastly more silk than all the rest of the
world. The illustration shows the chrysalides being-
destroyed by heat and the silk reeled.

To face p. iSj.

JP^*

THE CHINESE PEOPLE 183

and we may begin with a few quotations from his
book, The Real Chinese Question (1901) : —

" Too much has been written about China from a

" purely foreign standpoint. The shelves are full of

"books — notably English — telling with -great detail

"and much ingenuity what China wants, what China

"desires, and what is best for China, with the sole

" object of promoting the interests of British commerce,

"and thwarting the possible designs of Russia and

"every other Power. But regarding what China

" needs, for China's sake, the world of literature is

" markedly silent. It hardly need be said that volumes,

" written either in defence or elaboration of some

"foreign policy, are seldom or never just and fair to

"the Chinese. They are not written in order to

" describe how the natives of the empire feel, what

" they desire, nor what they say. Nor are they

" written to give broad and general views of any

" question from the native standpoint as well as

" from that of the foreigner. Upon the contrary,

"everything is focussed down to a single point of

" view, and that of foreign interest and profit.

"The result is most unfortunate, as the present
" situation must plainly show. A cyclone, a volcano,
" an earthquake, or by any other fearful name that it
" may be called, has suddenly burst into terrible
" activity in the Chinese Empire, accompanied with
" horrors and agonies which no man dare describe.
"Tens of thousands of unoffending men and women
" and helpless children have been slain. Millions
" upon millions of money have been wasted in brutal
" riot, and as much more in the effort to suppress it ;
" and none can yet see the end " (pp. 6-7).

" The Chinaman is, by nature, quiet, docile, well
" behaved, and very much given to the good habit of

i84 THE CHINESE PEOPLE

" minding his own business. It is, however, nothing
"short of dangerous to infer, from the possession of
"these qualities, that he may be easily forced or
"driven. No race upon the earth can be more
" stubborn when angered, or aroused to what is
" believed to be a defence of its rights " (p. 26).

" It is a mistake to suppose that the Chinaman lacks
"keenness of perception, power to realise a wrong, or
"memory to retain the feeling produced by it. Upon
" the contrary, he is sensitive to a fault. And while
"he may have his own peculiar notions of indignity
" or outrage, and his own idea of what constitutes
" suitable revenge, he is certain to demonstrate, soon
" or late, that he possesses the full average of human
" faculties in each of these directions. He cannot
" be handled with indifference, nor wronged with
"impunity. The will of the 'man of the West'
"cannot be safely worked out upon him in quiet
" disregard of his own inclinations and choice "
(p. 27).

"The weaker side of the Chinaman is that of his
" good-nature. He will resent and refuse a claim or
" a demand, but gracefully yield in the same matter
" when shaped as a request or a favour. He is easily
"accessible at all points, excepting those which
"appear to touch his rights or his dignity " (p. 59).

"The use of brute force is abominable in his eyes.
" He is charged with being an adept in all forms of
"deceit and falsehood. He is not untrained in these
"directions. But he would hardly win a prize in a
" contest of tricksters if representatives of the Latin,
" Spanish, Slavonic, Turkish, or Japanese races took
" the field against him " (p. 60),

" Foreign appointees have sometimes reached their
"posts of duty with the most grossly exaggerated

THE CHINESE PEOPLE 185

" ideas of the importance of their positions, ideas quiet
"unwarranted by the terms of contract or by any
" statements made to them. They have assumed the
" right to decide from whom tliey would consent to
"receive orders, and to judge for themselves whether
" orders, even when thus received, should or should
" not be obeyed. It is hardly necessary to say that
" the employment of such men has always ended in
" disastrous failure. Some years ago Viceroy Li
" engaged two foreign military officers as instructors
" at Tientsin. They were under contract for a term of
" five years at salaries far larger than any sum they
" had ever received before, their expenses to and from
" China being also allowed them. One had only seen
"so much military service as would come within the
" knowledge of an assistant paymaster of troops. The
" other had attained the rank of lieutenant in the
" armies of his country, had been invited to resign
" therefrom, and, at the time of making his Chinese
" engagement, was conducting a small manufactory
" of cigarettes. When these gentlemen reached
" Tientsin they declined to receive orders from any
" other authority than Viceroy Li, and claimed
" military rank next to him. After wasting eighteen
" months in argument and entreaty, during which
" time they performed no duty but that of receiving
"their monthly salaries, a proposition was submitted
" to them that they cancel their contracts and return
" home upon receipt of full pay for half the time speci-
" fied, and travelling expenses each way. They
"declined. They would only return home upon
" receipt of their salaries for the full term of five
"years, and the expenses of the journey. They were
"sustained in this position by their diplomatic and
" consular authorities, to whom appeal was made by

i86 THE CHINESE PEOPLE

" the Chinese. And in this manner their engagement
"was finally ended.

" Upon the close of the war between China and
"Japan the Southern Superintendent of Coast Defence
"engaged a number of German officers as instructors
"and organisers of a military force at Nanking.
" They, too, were under contract for a term of years
"at far higher rates of compensation than they had
" ever received before. Only one or two of them had
" held official rank in the German army. The
" remainder had held only petty rank, and were of no
" value excepting as drill-masters. They were under
" no subordination among themselves, each having
"been engaged independently, and owing no
"obedience to the others. From the time of their
"arrival at Nanking they lived in a condition of
" almost chronic drunkenness, were seldom fit for any
"duty, and continually insulted and abused peaceable
" Chinese upon the public streets. Popular feeling
" was excited against them by this conduct, and when
"they broke open private residences and attempted
"assault upon Chinese wives and mothers they were
" attacked by a mob and narrowly escaped the death
"they fully deserved. These are the facts of the
" ' ferocious assault upon German officers by a
"'Chinese mob,' so widely heralded throughout
" America and Europe at the time. And the Viceroy
"at Nanking rid himself of his German employes
"with as little pecuniary loss to the government and
"as little noise as possible " (pp. 140-42).

" It is a serious mistake to suppose that the China-
" man lacks the qualities which make a good soldier.
" He is sober, obedient, doggedly persistent, and
"easily controlled. He possesses much of that
"fatalism which made the soldiers of Mahomet so

THE CHINESE PEOPLE 187

" reckless of danger. The Chinese soldier has proved
" his courage upon so many occasions that it should
"be questioned no longer. Always called upon in
" modern times to face modern repeating rifles and
" Maxim guns, armed with matchlocks and spears, or
"with modern arms in the use of which he had not
"been trained, furnished not infrequently with ammu-
" nition fitted to another weapon than that which he
"carried, w^ithout officers competent to lead, half-fed,
"clothed in rags, undisciplined, he still has given
" many examples of splendid bravery. Well fed,
"well clothed, well disciplined, and well led, the
" Chinese soldier will prove himself entirely com-
"petentand ready to protect his native land. And,
"other things being equal, if the ratio of fighting
" men to the total population is the same in China as
" in the United States, she is able to put 60,000,000 of
" men into the field " (pp. 145-46).

The French writer Eugene Simon is another well-
informed and candid writer on the Chinese people.
His work, of which an English translation, entitled
China : its Social, Political, and Religious Life, was
published in 1887, has been described by Chinese
officials as one of the most truthful written by a
European. A few passages will serve to show how
fully Mr. Simon learned to appreciate the character
of the Chinese civilisation : —

" It is the opinion of many Europeans that the
" Government of China is essentially a despotism ;
"but a country can scarcely be styled despotically
"governed where there are but from twenty-five to
"thirty thousand officials to a population of five
"hundred million souls, and where the Government
"relies for support upon an army of a hundred

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

"thousand Tartars, almost lost in such a crowd"
(pp. 14-15).

"The Chinese possess not only political liberty,
"but liberty of conscience, religion, and education,
"and among all ranks of their officials are found
" Mohammedans, Jews, and Christians, as well as
"Buddhists and men professing no religion in par-
"ticular, except that perhaps of ancestral worship.

" The Government never meddles with religious
"questions unless they are mingled with civil
"matters" (p. 16).

" The Government is equally liberal in matters
"of public instruction. It is open to all to establish
"a school, and to avail themselves of it or not as they
" please ; and it is worthy of remark, the reason of
"which will shortly be given, that there is scarcely a
"single Chinese who is unable to read, write, cast
"accounts, and draw" (p. 17).

" And in no country in the world, as I hope to
"show later on, do there exist such proofs of force
"and vitality as in China" (p. 19).

"The cultivation of rice, which occupies two-thirds
"of the land, is the foundation of their agriculture,
" and this can only be carried on in water and by
" means of irrigation. Water being from its very
" nature easy to divert and steal, we may ask how
"it would be possible to cultivate rice without justice,
"and conclude that the regular distribution of water
" is in itself a proof of great loyalty to each other "
(p. 19).

" It would be vain to search for the sad, resigned,
"and sometimes despairing notes of our northern
"workmen in the songs which are heard in the
" hamlets at the hour of rest.

" There are no legends in China of the terrors of

Chinese Automatic Ippig^ating W^heel.

The wheel is rotated by the natural flow of the water
'in the river. The sections of bamboo that are immersed
become filled with water which is discharged when
they reach the highest point of rotation, when the water
■flows out on to the land. Simple, ingenious, and
^effective.

To face p. iS8.

THE CHINESE PEOPLE 189

"flooded forests, and of terrible and frozen peaks.
" All these are relegated to the back of the Great
" Wall, to Mongolia, and further still to the pole in
" Siberia. The most popular air in China, the
"'Sinfa,' is soft, lively, and full of peace and
"security; and there is no trace either in it or in
"any other air, or, as has been stated, in any legend,
" of a struggle against the implacable elements. Nor
" is there any trace of the sufferings of our serfdom,
" or of the agony and tortures of our wars of religion.
" During twelve hundred years at least the singers
" have enjoyed a quiet which we shall not have long
" in France. And on this united base, affected neither
" by remorse for lost time and trouble, nor irritating
" memories, nor hopes of vengeance and reprisals,
"has been founded a code of public manners, the
" most calculated to assure to all and every one an
"amount of comfort from which we are still far
" removed in Europe " (pp. 39-40).

" We must not forget that for the Chinaman there
" is no penalty more terrible than exclusion from his
"family community — none that so terribly affects his
"imagination. To relieve himself from this night-
" mare he is ready to make any sacrifice, even that of
" his life " (p. 42).

"There is a people with whom, thanks to the
"absence of all supernatural religion, civilisation,
" founded on natural principles, has not only escaped
" the classes, and other causes of dissolution peculiar
" to the rest of the world, but has become so powerful
"that all religious, commercial, and military attacks
" made upon it by foreign civilisations have met with
" nothing but constant resistance " (p. 62).

" In no country are the people better off, and that
" is easily understood, because nowhere are the people

igo THE CHINESE PEOPLE

" more industrious and less weighted down with
"taxes'" (p. 78).

" Every Chinaman has, perhaps, five or six trades
"at his fingers' ends, and can become at pleasure
" peasant, weaver, basket-maker, shoemaker, or black-
" smith.

" They can found cannon and shells, and statues
" sixty feet high, in sheds for which you would give
" hardly a few francs. It is against this system that
"you hurl your efforts, your commerce, your money,
"armies, engines, and the rest. We are too heavily
" laden with taxes and fetters of all kinds to be able
" to compete on even terms with the Chinese.

" It is not difficult to guess what they will do when
" foreign importations cause them serious anxiety.
" It will be as with opium, which they did not pro-
" duce till it was forced upon them by the English.
" They will erect looms, mills, and steam machinery
" of all kinds, as they have already done for silk and
" wool in two or three provinces — if needful, obtain
" European assistance, and dispense with European
" imports. It is to be hoped they will stop there,
" because the day that they take a fancy to engage in
" Western industry will mark a disastrous day for
" Europe. Free from taxes, with cheap and abundant
" labour, it will be impossible to compete with them "'
(pp. 78-79)-

' This was written before China had been weighted down with
heavy indemnities demanded by Western nations to pay for wars
resulting- from missionary propaganda. — H. S. M.

' Something of this kind has already taken place in British India,
but it was a trouble that was very easily met by the British Govern-
ment. It is best told in the words of Viva Kananda : " For many
" years India was the greatest cotton-producing country in the world,
" and her woven fabrics were the best. Three-quarters of the world
" dress principally in cotton clothing ; it was a great and prosperous
"industry. When, however, cotton machinery, worked by steam
" engines, was brought into play, it was quite impossible for India to

A Chinese Lantern Merchant.

The Chinese are excellent mechanics, and have artistic
tastes, superior in many respects to those to be found
anywhere else in the world.

To face p. igo.

THE CHINESE PEOPLE 191

" Chinese civilisation is not a dead civilisation, like
" those of Egypt and Assyria ; and one is not reduced
" to styles and palimpsests in order to reconstitute it.

" Nothing really is required but the use of eyes and
" ears, and I may add that it is much easier of com-
" prehension than any other living civilisation. None
" offers fewer contradictions and more unity.

" Each and every part combines with the rest to
"form one harmonious whole. An examination of
" its laws, customs, philosophy, and agriculture, its
" arts and industry, has but one result, the absolute
"unity of humanity and the family, in which this
" principle is most clearly established " (p. 88).

" The doctrine of the unity of the earth and
" humanity is a reality in each family, and for each
" individual. Property in land inviolable and sacred,
"and a guarantee of liberty, is to man a veritable
"savings-bank. He is attached to the soil he has
" made, and he never leaves it, except when necessary
" to transform its products. This is the limit of
"industrial labour. To employ the resources of the

" compete with Manchester, and about five millions of our people
"were thrown out of employment, of which five hundred thousand
" died of starvation. It then became apparent to us that there was
" only one way to compete with Manchester, and that was to establish
" cotton mills in India after the manner of those in England. We
"had the advantage of cheap labour with the cotton production in
" the vicinity of the mills. We purchased the machinery, equipped
" the factories, and very soon we were able to recover a portion of
" our trade — notably that of China, which is the largest consumer of
" cotton goods in the world. It was soon evident that we were able
" to compete successfully with England ; but the British Government,
"in order to protect their own cotton industry, placed a very heavy
"export duty on cotton goods manufactured in India. Thus the
" English were protected against the competition of their fellow
" subjects in India. It is doubtful if Russia could have done any
"worse by us." The precedent having thus been established, it is
only too evident that, if China is overwhelmed and divided among
the Western nations, similar means will be found to protect the
Christian nations against Chinese competition,— H. S. M.

192 THE CHINESE PEOPLE

"soil otherwise than in re-enriching it, and to create
"a condition of affairs which would result in drawing
" its elements from foreign parts in order to return
" them thither for sale, would be to a Chinaman like
"building castles in the air, and, besides being a
"folly, an act of injustice and danger.

" No doubt many will smile at this as political
"economy, but the net result has been to make
" Chinese soil the richest and most fertile in the
" world. Assuming that the whole territory produces
"only rice, corn, maize, sorgho, and millet, its value
"cannot be less than i,ioo or 1,200 milliards of francs
" (;^44,ooo,ooo,ooQ or ;^48,ooo,ooo,ooo), and would
" certainly reach 1,800 milliards (;^72, 000,000,000) if
" to it be added the additional value of lands cultivated
" with mulberries, tea, sugar-cane, oranges, hemp, oil,
"wax, etc.

" It amounts, as will be seen, in proportion to three
" times the value of the soil of France, and once-and-
"a-half more for each inhabitant" (pp. 104-05).

" No man, in spite of formulas and machines, can
" rise to the level of the simple Chinese peasant. The
" secret of the success of Chinese agriculture is summed
" up in two words — ^labour and justice.

"These are engraved on the heart of every China-
" man, and he hardly notices the want of tools.

" I wish I could show to the whole world the ardour
" of this nation of peasants, to whom no task is repug-
" nant ; and how in the evening, when Nature herself
" seems to have finished her day, one plies the weaver's
"trade in front of the village houses, while another
"with his lantern on his head continues his labour in
"the fields. His most remarkable quality is perhaps,
" however, the care he bestows on his plants. No
" mother could be more attentive to the wants of her

THE CHINESE PEOPLE 193

"child, nor more anxious to satisfy them. The
"slightest indications of pallor are warnings, and the
" sight of the peasant carrying carefully the nauseous
"manure, which is destined to restore the health of
"the harvest so dear to him, shows conclusively that
" his heart is as much in his task as his brains, and
"that the feeling which animates him is one which no
" disgust can discourage.

" And especially wonderful is the cultivation from
"the plain to the summit of the mountains, so clean
" and carefully tended as to be comparable only to the
"finest inlaid work and carved bronze.

" He is equally just to his animals ; his mules and
" buffaloes, so restive with us, are subdued to his
" hands and voice.

" Even the wild beasts do not fly from the China-
" man ; and all Europeans know that in districts where
" they are not in the habit of shooting, pheasants and
"hares are so tame as to be killed with a stick"
(pp. 119-20).

" If European countries were organised in the same
" way as the Chinese, their Governments would be as
" much bereft of action and initiative as the latter, and
"all war would be at an end to-morrow " (p. 141).

" There are at least seventy principal crops regularly
"cultivated throughout the Empire, and eight or ten,
" often more, on each farm of two or three hectares
" (five or seven and a-half acres). The whole of
" China is a garden, as has been often observed, and
" a garden of the richest description " (p. 264).

"As regards animals, he has rendered the buffalo
"as tame as an ox, and he has domesticated insects
"which seemed impossible to tame. The butterfly of
" the common silkworm, which we owe to him, and
" that of the oak silkworm which he offered to us, but

o

194 THE CHINESE PEOPLE

" of which we have hitherto been unable to avail
" ourselves ; the wax cochineal, as small and frail
" as the grub of the rose tree, and during a part of its
"existence even less visible; he has compelled all
"these 'children of the air' to furnish him with an
"annual tribute worth hundreds of millions. This is
" the daily return which the individual makes to society
" for the benefit received from it ; for all these conquests
"are but the acts of the individual, the fruits of his
" patience, observations, studies, and taste. The
"collective force of society must have failed but for
"him "(p. 275).

Politeness is one of those graces of character which
come close to a moral quality, and evince a high
stage of civilisation. The politeness of the Chinese
is notorious, and is hardly exaggerated in the follow-
ing passages from authoritative writers : —

" The most bigoted critic of the Chinese is forced to
"admit that they have brought the practice of polite-
" ness to a pitch of perfection which is not only
" unknown in Western lands, but, previous to
"experience, is unthought of and almost unimagin-
"able" (A. Smith's Chinese Characteristics, p. 35).

" When I rose from the table half-a-dozen guests
" sitting at the other tables rose also, and bowed to me
" as I passed out. Of all people I have ever met the
" Chinese are, I think, the politest. My illiterate
" Laohwan, who could neither read nor write, had a
" courtesy of demeanour, a well-bred ease of manner,
" a graceful deference that never approached servility,
"which it was a constant pleasure to me to witness.

" As regards the educated classes, there can be
" little doubt, I think, that there are no people in the
" world so scrupulously polite as the Chinese. Their
" smallest actions on all occasions of ceremony are

A Dinner Party at a Mandarin's House.

It does not differ widely fi-om a dinner parly in New
York, London, or Paris.

To r.i

THE CHINESE PEOPLE 19S

" governed by the most minute rules " (Morrison's
An Australian in China, p. 196).

A note may be added in regard to the intelligence
of the Chinese, though this will be made clearer on
later pages. The high state of culture in China is
well known : —

" Not long ago a Chinese boy in attendance at the
" leading school in Melbourne beat every lad in the
" senior class, and came out first in Latin, Greek,
" French, Mathematics, English Literature — in fact,
"in every subject in the curriculum" (Robertson
" Scott's The People of China, p. 86).

REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA

Before we glance at the moral character of the
Chinese it will be useful to consider the religions
which have formed the moral features of the people.
There are three religious systems, apart from Chris-
tianity and Mohammedanism, in China ; and, as in
Japan, the various bodies live on terms of extreme
tolerance. A Chinaman will freely patronize two
or more of these religions, and he is very badly
impressed by the spirit of intolerance introduced by
the Christian missionaries.' The native and original
religion of China is Taoism, a purified form of nature-
worship which the Emperor and officials solemnly
conduct. Of course, no educated Chinaman literally
believes in the divinity of the sun and earth and
heavenly bodies, any more than in the myriads of
devils of popular belief. The great Chinese moralist,
Kung-Fu-Tse,^ advised more than two thousand years
ago that the Chinaman should conduct the ancient
rites with politeness, but base his moral conduct on
purely human considerations. It is this purely
humanitarian ethic, commonly known as Confucian-
ism, which has formed the moral character of China,
and even of Japan. It is not, properly speaking, a
religion ; it has no reference whatever to theology or

" The Chinese are quite unable to understand why Christians
should quarrel and murder each other on a matter of religious opinion
— something which in the very nature of things is a matter of pure
conjecture unsupported by a single fact.

" Latinised "Confucius." He advised his followers to " respect
the Gods, but to have no dealings with them."

196

REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA 197

the supernatural, beyond warning people to avoid
them ; yet it is probably the most effective system of
morals which the world has ever known. While
Christianity degenerated in the squalor and ignorance
of medieval Europe, Confucianism remained pure
and held the Chinese character at a high level. The
third religion is Buddhism, which in China has
assumed an adulterated and excessively ceremonious
form, curiously and very closely resembling Roman
Catholicism. At a still later date Mohammedanism
was admitted by the Chinese, and has large numbers
of adherents. The following passages will show how
the European traveller is impressed by the religions
of China, and will evince the high appreciation of
Confucianism, which is the only religion of nearly all
educated Chinamen. They are, to use a Western
phrase. Agnostics, and base their morality on man's
own needs and interests.

I first quote the Jesuit writer, Louis Le Compte,
whose work, Memoirs and Observations made in a
late Journey through the Empire of China (1697),
contains some candid and curious remarks on Chinese
religion : —

" Lastly, if we examine well the history of China, we
"shall still find that for three hundred years after —
" that is to say, down to the times of the Emperor
" Yeou-vam, who reigned eight hundred years before
" Christ — idolatry had not corrupted this people. So
" that they have preserved the knowledge of the true
" God for near two thousand years, and did honour
" their Maker in such a manner as may serve both for
"an example and instruction to Christians them-
" selves" (p. 317).

"These footsteps of the true religion, which we find
" in China for so many ages together, carry us

igS REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA

"naturally to make a reflection which will justify
"the providence of the Almighty in the government
"of the world. People are sometimes amazed that
"China and the Indies have been overshadowed by
" the clouds and darkness of idolatry almost ever since
"the birth of our Saviour, while Greece, a great part
"of Africk, and almost all Europe have enjoyed the
"clear light of faith; but they never consider that
" China for two thousand years had the knowledge of
" the true God, and have practised the most pure
"morality, while Europe and almost all the world
"wallowed in error and corruption" (p. 320).

"God, in the distribution of his gifts, is not an
" unjust respecter of persons ; yet he has laid out his
"times to let his grace shine forth in due season,
"which, like the sun, rises and sets in different parts
"of the world, according as people make good or bad
" use of it.

" I do not know whether I may make bold to add,
" that as the sun, which by its constant motion hides
" itself to some to show itself to others, has, notwith-
" standing, at the year's end distributed to every
"country its equal portion of light and warmth; so
" God, by the secret and hidden course of his grace
"and spirit which have been communicated to the
"world, hath equally divided them to all people in the
" world, though in different manners and at different
"times. However it be that God has made his wise
" distribution of grace, I am sure of all nations China
" has the least reason to complain, since no one has
"received a larger portion than she" (pp. 320-21).

In another passage Pere Le Compte shows that he
has correctly grasped the spirit of Chinese theo-
logy :—

" The Chinese cannot imagine a wicked God, or

REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA 199

" one who is the author of evil, and this alone renders
" it impossible for them to understand how the
" Christians can worship such a being as the Jewish
"Jehovah (Yahu or Yahve)."

But the frankness of the approval granted by Pere
Le Compte to this view of the Chinese will startle
many of those orthodox Christians of our times who
claim inspiration for the Old Testament, in which a
deity is eulogised whose character makes him a fit
object of worship for savages only.

" The two fundamental principles of the Chinese
"monarchy," continues the author, "are the absolute
" authority of the emperor and the equally absolute
" obligation to use this authority with discretion. The
"emperor is styled 'The Son of Heaven,' and his
"very words are treated as sacred."

Professor John Draper, in his Intellectual Develop-
ment of Europe, speaks as follows of the Chinese in
regard to religion : —

" They have come to regard religion as merely a
" fashion, to be followed according to one's own
" taste ; that as professed by the State it is a civil
" institution necessary for the holding of office, and
" demanded by society, but not to be regarded as of
" the smallest philosophical importance ; that a man
" is entitled to indulge his views on these matters
"just as he is entitled to indulge his taste in the
" colour and fashion of his garments ; that he has no
" more right, however, to live without some religious
" profession than he has a right to go naked. The
" Chinese cannot comprehend how there should be
"animosities arising on matters of such doubtful
" nature and trivial concern. The formula under
"which they live is: 'Religions are many; reason
"'is one; we are brothers.' They smile at the

200 REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA

"credulity of the good-natured Tartars, who believe
"in the wonders of miracle-workers, for they have
" miracle-workers who can perform the most super-,
"natural cures, who can lick red-hot iron, who can
"cut open their bowels, and, by passing their hand
"over the wound, make themselves whole again —
"who can raise the dead. In China these miracles,
"with all their authentications, have descended to
" the conjurer, and are performed for the amusement
"of children " (Vol. I, pp. 74-75).

"'The prisons,' they say, 'are locked night and
" ' day, but they are always full ; the temples are
"'always open, and yet there is nobody in them.'
" Of the dead they say, with an exquisite refinement
"of euphemism, 'He has saluted the world.' The
" Lazarist Hue, on whose authority many of these
" statements are made, testifies that they die, indeed,
"with incomparable tranquillity, just as animals die ;
"and adds, with a bitter and yet profoundly true
"sarcasm, they are what many in Europe are wanting
" to ht" {Ibid., Vol, I, p. 75).

In his learned work on Religion in China (1893)
the Rev. Dr. J. Edkins makes some interesting
admissions in regard to Chinese religions : —

" China is the only instance of a country where
"three powerful religions have existed together for
"ages without one of them being successful in
"destroying the other two "' (p. 57).

" With regard to creation, they know of no law
"but spontaneity and self-development in the con-
"struction of the existing universe. They consider

' At one time there were no less than three popes, and each one
amused himself by damning and excommunicating the other two. —
H. S. M.

REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA 201

"that all things have come to be as they are of them-
" selves " (p. 94).

" The idea of creation most familiar to the Chinese
" mind is that there was a monad at the beginning.
" This first atom separated into two. The two atoms
"became four, the four were changed into eight, and
" the eight gave origin to all things. If the Chinese
" are asked how this process was commenced and con-
" tinued, they answer, that ' it came of itself" (p. 95).

" The Jesuit missionaries, when they arrived in
" China, in the reign of our Queen Elizabeth, were
" charmed with the excellent doctrines of Confucius.
" They found there the Golden Rule of our Saviour
" in a slightly different form. The precept of Con-
" fucius was, ' Do not to others what you would not
" ' that they should do to you.' They also found in
" the common conversation of the people antithetical
"sentences and fragments of familiar poetry, exhort-
" ing to virtue and warning against vice. They are
" in daily use among all classes, from the rich and
" educated to the labouring poor. For example :
" ' Among the hundred virtues filial piety is the
"'chief'" (p. 117).

" A favourite mode of attacking Christianity is to
"represent it as derived partly from Buddhism and
" partly from the system of Confucius. ' Why should
" ' you speak of heaven and hell ? ' an opponent will
" often say to the missionary ; ' we have that doctrine
" 'already. It is Buddhist, and it is nothing new to
" ' us.' In fact, the Chinese have very minute descrip-
" tions of hell torments. The pictorial representations
" of them common among the people often reminded
" me of some of the plates in Foxe's Book of Martyrs,
" and of Roman Catholic illustrated books for the use
" of the poor in Ireland " (p. 161).

202 REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA

Writers on the great ethical system of China (and
Japan), Confucianism, are now numerous, and there
is a general agreement as to the excellence of the
system and the profound influence it has had on
Chinese character. Though the philosophy of Kung-
Fu-Tse is necessarily confined to scholars, his moral
influence pervades the whole life and literature of
China. He has never been deified, like so many
other reformers, and his system of morals has never
been corrupted. An American missionary of twenty-
two years' experience, Mr. A. H. Smith, writes as
follows of Confucianism in his Chinese Characteristics
(1894):- _

"Confucianism, as a system of thought, is among
" the most remarkable intellectual achievements of the
" race. It is true that the Western reader cannot
"escape a feeling that much of what he finds in the
" Confucian classics is jejune. But it is not merely
"by perusing them that we are to receive our most
" forceful impressions of what the Chinese classics
" are and have been, but by contemplating their effects.
" Here is the Chinese race, by far the mightiest aggre-
"gation of human beings in any one nation on earth,
" ' with a written history extending as far back as that
" ' of any other which the world has known, the only
" ' nation that has throughout retained its nationality,
" ' and has never been ousted from the land where it
" ' first appeared,' existing, for aught that appears, in
" much the same way as in hoary antiquity. What
"is the explanation of this unexampled fact? By
"what means has this incomputable mass of human
"beings, dwelling on the Chinese plains from the
" dawn of history until now, been controlled ? And
" how is it that they appear to be an exception to the
" universal law of the decay and death of nations?

REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA 203

"Those who have investigated this subject most
" thoroughly are united in declaring that this result
" is due to the fact that, whereas other nations have
"depended upon physical force, the Chinese have
"depended upon moral forces. No student of history,
" no observant traveller who knows human nature,
"can fail to be impressed, to the point of deep awe,
"with the thought of the marvellous restraining
" power which Chinese morality has exerted upon the
" race from the earliest times until now. ' It would
"'be hard to overestimate,' says Dr. Williams, 'the
" ' influence of Confucius in his ideal princely scholar,
" ' and the power for good over his race which this
" ' conception has ever since exerted. The immeasur-
"'able influence in after-ages of the character thus
" ' portrayed proves how lofty was his own standard,
" ' and the national conscience has ever since assented
"'to the justice of the portrait.' 'The teaching of
"'Confucianism on human duty,' says Dr. Legge,
" ' is wonderful and admirable. It is not perfect,
" ' indeed. But on the last three of the four things
" ' which Confucius delighted to teach — letters, ethics,
" ' devotion of soul, and truthfulness — his utterances
" ' are in harmony both with the Law and the Gospel.
" ' A world ordered by them would be a beautiful
"'world.'

" The entire freedom of the Chinese classical works
" from anything which could debase the mind of the
" readers is a most important characteristic, which
" has been often pointed out, and which is in the
"greatest possible contrast to the literatures of India,
"Greece, and Rome. ' No people,' says Mr. Meadows,
" ' whether of ancient or modern times, has possessed
"'a sacred literature so completely exempt as the
" ' Chinese from licentious descriptions and from every

204 REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA

' offensive expression. There is not a single sentence
' in the whole of the Sacred Books and their annota-
'tions that may not be read aloud in any family
' circle in England. Again, in every other non-
' Christian country idolatry has been associated with
' human sacrifices and with the deification of vice,
' accompanied by licentious rites and orgies. Not
'a sign of all this exists in China.'
"The direct personal responsibility of the Emperor
to heaven for the quality of his rule ; the exaltation
of the people as of more importance than the rulers;
the doctrine that the virtuous and able should be
the rulers, and that their rule must be based upon
virtue ; the comprehensive theory of the five rela-
tions of men to each other ; the doctrine that no one
should do to another what he would not have that
other do to him — these points have stood out like
mountain-peaks from the general level of Chinese
thought, and have attracted the attention of all
observers. In closing what we have to say of the
Chinese, we wish to place emphasis upon the moral
excellences of the Confucian system, for it is only
by putting those excellences in their true light that
we can hope to arrive at any just comprehension of
the Chinese people. Those excellences have made
the Chinese pre-eminently amenable to moral forces.
The employment of the classical writings in the
civil service examinations for successive ages has
unified the minds of the people to a marvellous
degree ; and the powerful motives thus brought
into play, leading every candidate for a degree to
hope for the stability of the government as a pre-
i-equisite to his own success, has doubtless been a
principal factor in the perpetuation of the Chinese
people to this present time " (pp. 287-89).

REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA 205

From the above it certainly would seem more
appropriate for the Chinese to send missionaries to
us instead of our sending missionaries to China,
especially if we consider the condition of Europe
during the Middle Ages, or even at the present
time.

A few short passages from other writers will suffice
in regard to China's religions : —

" Confucianism is the State religion of Korea.
" It has neither priesthood nor supernaturalism,
" but a good moral code with cult of worship.
"They rely entirely on self-effort, and do not look
" for divine assistance " (J. Walton's China and the
Present Crisis, p. 300).

" What is absolutely certain is that in China these
" doctrines have formed the laws and customs under
"which, for upwards of 2,000 years, a people, now
" numbering more than 500,000,000 inhabitants, have
" lived and died.

"There is no other religion of which the same can
" be said ; for there is none which gives to the
" problems which vex man the same clear and precise
"solutions, at the same time so much in accordance
" with his inmost hopes " (Eugene Simon's China,
p. 94).

" In the whole Empire there may be 30,000,000
"followers of Mohammed. They are not fanatical,
"are less rigorous in their ceremonies than the Arabs,
"and are said to compare very favourably in their
"character and bearing with their non-Mussulman
"fellow-countrymen" (Robertson Scott's The People
of China, p. 123).

" China is full of idols, and the masses of the
" population may be justly called ignorant and super-

2o6 REASON AND TOLERATION IN CHINA

"stitious.' But they are also intelligent, industrious,
"amiable in their relations with one another, devoted
" to their old people, tolerant in their creeds, courteous
"and forbearing in ordinary circumstances to 'the
" 'stranger from afar,' honest in their business deal-
" ings, and orderly to a wonderful degree, while the
" proportion of serious crime among them is probably
"smaller than in some European countries" {Ibid.,
p. 123).

' There are vastly more idols in western Europe in proportion to
the population than in any part of China. The Cologne Cathedral,
the largest religious edifice in Germany, is full of painted idols ; and
there are many places in England where the wooden and plaster-of-
Paris gods of Christianity are for sale, one of the most notable being
in front of the Oratory on Brompton Road, London. — H. S. M.

The Manufacture of AVooden Gods.

A great deal has been said first and last by mission-
aries of the terrible idolatry of the Chinese. They claim
that tlie Chinese malie wooden images of their gods,
and that such n thing is sinful in the extreme. It is cer-
tainly very strange that tlie missionaries do not look
nearer home. The illustration shows one of the numer-
ous god factories in Paris, where gods of all sizes are
made and sold. In Barcelona, Spain, the writer visited
a god shop where the workmanship was superior to
anything to be found in France. There is a shop
opposite the Brompton Oratory in London where a large
number of wooden and plaster-of-Paris gods are sold.
Cologne Cathedral has innumerable carved and painted
idols, before which the people pray.

To i'ace p. 206.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE

Let us now see what kind of moral character has
been created in China by these native religious and
ethical agencies. Here it would be possible to fill
a volume with testimony by competent authorities as
to the general excellence of the Chinese character.
The notion propagated by many missionaries, that the
Christian Gospel must be spread in China in order to
raise the moral tone of the population, is seen to be
founded on ignorance or malice. To say the least,
the average Chinese character compares favourably
with the average character of any nation in Europe ;
indeed, the quotations herein presented will probably
persuade the reader that it is superior to the European
character. Without for a moment ignoring the faults
of the Chinese, we may say that they have been cruelly
slandered in missionary literature, and by superficial
observers whose travels have been brief and restricted.
It must, moreover, be borne in mind that the Chinese
have not passed through such a morass as the Middle
Ages of European life. The tenacious conservatism
of its people applies also to its moral culture. Such
as we find it to-day it was when Europe was wallow-
ing in the ignorance and squalor of the Middle Ages.
Its moral system has been remarkably effective, and it
is a strange proposal to substitute for that native moral
culture a religion which has been far less efficient in
Europe — as the Japanese Government officially con-
cluded after sending a large body of men to Europe,
about forty years ago, to study Christianity in its own
home.

207

2o8 THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE

A work written in 1876 by a British Consul in
China, Mr. H. A. Giles, gives the candid impressions
of a careful observer ; and a few passages from this
unbiassed work {Chinese Sketches) will serve to intro-
duce the subject of Chinese morality : —

" Now the working classes in China are singularly
" sober ; opium is beyond their means, and few are
"addicted to the use of Chinese wine. Both men and
" women smoke, and enjoy their pipe of tobacco in the
" intervals of work ; but this seems to be almost their
"only luxury. Hence it follows that every cash
"earned either by the man or woman goes towards
" procuring food and clothes instead of enriching the
" keepers of grog-shops, besides which the percentage
"of quarrels and fights is thus very materially les-
"sened " (pp. 11-12).

"The relative number of human beings who suffer
"from cold and hunger in China is far smaller than
" in England, and in this all-important respect the
" women of the working classes are far better off than
" their European sisters. Wife-beating is unknown "
(p. 12).

" The truth is, that these poor women are, on the
"whole, very well treated by their husbands, whom
" they not unfrequently rule with as harsh a tongue
"as that of any western shrew" (p. 13).

" And truly, if national greatness may be gauged
" by the mien and carriage of its people, China is
" without doubt entitled to a high place among the
"children of men. An official in full costume is a
" most imposing figure, and carries himself with
" great dignity and self-possession " (p. 16).

The same author, in speaking of foreigners in
China, says, among other things: "They see the
"unrestricted sale of spirituous liquors, unaccom-

Mansion of a Chinese Merchant near
Canton.

There are many similar mansions in China.

To face p, 208.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE 209

' panied by the scenes of brutality and violence
'which form such a striking contrast to the intel-
' lectual advancement of our age. They notice that
'charity has no place among the virtues of the
' people, and that nobody gives away a cent he could
' possibly manage to keep ; the apparent result being
' that everyone recognises the necessity of working
' for himself, and that the mendicants of a large
' Chinese city would barely fill the casual ward of
' one of our smallest workhouses "' (p. 1 19).

" We believe that theft is not one whit more
'common in China than it is in England ; and we
'are fully convinced that the imputation of being a
' nation of thieves has been cast, with many others,
' upon the Chinese by unscrupulous persons, whose
'business it is to show that China will never advance
'without the renovating influence of Christianity —
' an opinion from which we here express our most
' unqualified dissent " (p. 122).

"Suicide while in an unsound state of mind is
' rare ; insanity itself, whether temporary or per-
' manent, being extremely uncommon in China.
' Neither does the eye detect any of the vast asylums
' so numerous in England for the reception of lunatics,
' idiots, deaf-mutes, cripples, and the blind. There
'are a few such institutions here and there, but not
' enough to constitute a national feature as with us.
' They are only for the poorest of the poor, and are

' Those of us who have made a study of sociology are well aware
of the fact that no means has ever been discovered to assist the lazy
and the shiftless poor that does not increase the trouble. Charity
and protection agfainst their own folly enable them to increase their
numbers in geometrical progression, and the only limit to this
increase is the amount of assistance that they receive. The common
people in England do not understand this law, but everybody appears
to understand it in China, and that is the reason why China has
vastly less of the lazy and useless class than one finds in England.

P

2IO THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE

"generally of more benefit to dishonest managers
" than to anybody else. And yet in the streets of a
" Chinese town we a see a far less number of ' unfor-
"'tunates' than among our own highly civilised
"communities" (pp. 131-32).

" The truth is that parents in China are just as fond
" of all their children as people in other and more
"civilised countries, where male children are also
" eagerly desired to preserve the family from extinc-
" tion. The excess in value of the male over the
" female is perhaps more strongly marked among the
" Chinese, owing, of course, to the peculiarity of
"certain national customs, and not to any want of
" parental feeling ; but, on the other hand, a very
" fair share both of care and affection is lavished upon
"the daughters either of rich or poor" (p. 158).

" The extraordinary feeling of hatred and contempt
"evinced by the Chinese nation for missionaries of
"every denomination who settle in their country
" naturally suggests the question whether Christianity
"is likely to prove a boon to China, if, indeed, it
"ever succeeds in taking root at all. That under the
" form of Roman Catholicism it once had a chance of
"becoming the religion of the Empire, and that that
"chance was recklessly sacrificed to bigotry and
" intolerance, is too well known to be repeated ; but
"that such an opportunity will ever occur again is
"quite beyond the bounds, if not of possibility, at
"any rate of probability. Missionary prospects are
"anything but bright in China just now, in spite of
"rosily-worded 'reports,' and annual statistics of
"persons baptised. A respectable Chinaman will
"tell you that only thieves and bad characters who
" have nothing to lose avail themselves of baptism as
"a means of securing 'long nights of indolence and

THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE 211

" ' ease ' in the household of some enthusiastic
" missionary at from four to ten dollars a month.
" Educated men will not tolerate missionaries in
" their houses, as many have found to their cost ;
"and the fact cannot be concealed that the foreign
"community in China suffers no small inconvenience
" and incurs considerable danger for a cause with
" which a large majority of its members has no
"sympathy whatever. It would, however, be invi-
" dious to dwell upon the class of natives who allow
" themselves to be baptised and pretend to accept
"dogmas they most certainly do not understand, or
"on the mental and social calibre of numbers of
" those gentlemen who are sent out to convert them ;
"we will confine ourselves merely to considering
" what practical benefits Christianity would be likely
" to confer upon the Chinese at large. And this we
" may fairly do, not being of those who hold that all
" will be damned but the sect of that particular Church
" to which they themselves may happen to belong,
" but believing that the Chinese have as good a
" chance as anybody else of whatever happiness may
" be in store for the virtuous, whether they become
" Christians or whether they do not.

" In the course of eight years' residence in China
" we have never met a drunken man in the streets.
"Opium-smokers we have seen in all stages of
" intoxication ; but no drunken brawls, no bruised
" and bleeding wives. Would Christianity raise the
" Chinese to the standard of European sobriety ?
" Would it bring them to renounce opium, only to
"replace it with gin? Would it cause them to be
" more frugal, to live more economically than they
" do now on their bowl of rice and cabbage, moistened
" with a drink of tea, and perhaps supplemented with

212 THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE

" a few whiffs of the mildest possible tobacco ? Would
"it cause them to be more industrious than, e.g., the
"wood-carvers of Ningpo, who work daily from
"sunrise to dusk, with two short intervals for meals?
" Would it make them more filial ? — justly renowned
"as they are for unremitting care of aged and infirm
" parents. More fraternal ? — where every family is a
"small society, each member toiling for the common
" good, and being sure of food and shelter if thrown
" out of work or enfeebled by disease. More law-
" abiding? — we appeal to anyone who has lived in
" China and mixed with the people. Would it make
"them more honest? — when many Europeans confess
" that for straightforward business they would sooner
"deal with Chinamen than with merchants of certain
" Christian nationalities we shall not take upon our-
" selves to name. Should we not run the risk of
"sowing seed for future and bloody religious wars on
"soil where none now rage? To teach them justice
"in the administration of law would be a gloi-ious
" task indeed, but even that would have its dark side.
" Litigation would become the order of the day, and
"a rapacious class would spring into existence where
"lawyers and barristers are now totally unknown.
"The striking phenomenon of extreme wealth side
"by side with extreme poverty might be produced in
"a country where absolute destitution is at present
" remarkably rare and no one need actually starve "
(pp. 192-94).

" We have no wish to exalt China at the expense of
"European civilisation, but we cannot blind ourselves
" to the fact that her vices have been exaggerated and
" her virtues overlooked. Only the bigoted or
" ignorant could condemn with sweeping assertions
" of immorality a nation of many millions absolutely

THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE 213

"free, as the Chinese are, from one such vice as
" drunkenness ; in whose cities may be seen — what
"all our legislative and executive skill cannot secure
" — streets quiet and deserted after nine or ten o'clock
"at night. Add to this industry, frugality, patriot-
"ism, and a boundless respect for the majesty of
" office ; it then only remains for us to acknowledge
" that China is, after all, * a nation of much talent, and,
" ' in some respects, even wisdom ' " (pp. 201-02).

Eugene Simon, in the work I have already quoted,
bears testimony to the admirable character of the
Chinese, even of the agricultural class. He says : —

" Here we have facts to deal with, and I can state
"that in Hankow, a town in which I lived for some
"time, only one murder took place in thirty-four
"years; and that in Chichli, a province containing
"25,000,000 inhabitants, there were in 1866 but
" twelve capital sentences. It should be noted that a
"third conviction for theft is punished with death;
"that no extenuating circumstances are admitted;
"and that Pekin, the capital of China, is situated in
" this province. The reader would be better able to
"judge of the condition of the Chinese population
"were I able to show him the small farms and the
" cottages of the peasants, who have so often extended
" their hospitality to me, and point out to him the
" cleanliness of the dwellings, the varnished furniture,
"and read over to him the records which I have col-
" lected of their wealth and resources.

" I may quote the case of an individual owning a
" plot of land of the extent of three hectares and a half,
"who was able to save annually 1,500 to 1,800 francs,
"after providing for the subsistence of himself and
" his family ; while another, farming one hectare,

214 THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE

" saved yearly from 700 to 800 francs. I wish also I
" could enable the reader to see them at their meals,
" sufficient in quantity, and composed of much more
" varied materials than those forming the subsistence
" of our field labourers ; while all, however poor their
" lodging may appear, are able to indulge themselves
" with a few cakes for dessert and to offer to a friend.
" Especially should I like to enable him to compare
" the light, frank, and easy bearing of the first
" Chinese peasant he might meet with the heavy,
" overburdened, awkward, and shame-faced demeanour
" of most of our small agriculturists and our petty
" farmers of Brittany, Sologne, Auvergne, and Savoy,
" not to mention those of the South " (pp. 7-8).

Mr. Simon quotes a Chinaman who was puzzled by
the contrast of the violence of Europeans and the
peacefulness of his compatriots : —

" It is different with us ; but what I fail to under-
" stand is why Europeans are constantly making war
"against other countries instead of employing all
" their strength in cultivating their own territory and
"developing the population " (p. 532).

An Australian medical man, Mr. G. E. Morrison,
has given us his impressions of the Chinese in his
admirable work. An Australian in China (1895). His
evidence is particularly valuable, as a great deal of
prejudice exists against the Chinese in Australia. It
will be seen from the following extracts that Mr.
Morrison learned to admire the Chinese and resent
the untruthful charges made against them : —

"I went to China possessed with the strong racial
" antipathy to the Chinese common to my countrymen,
"but that feeling has long since given way to one of
"lively sympathy and gratitude, and I shall always

Chinese Rivep Scene.

Ob-serve the manner of catching fish ; also the man
in the boat. He steers the boat with his left hand,
manages the sail with his right, and rows with his right
foot, at the same time smoking a pipe with a very
Jong stem. He is taking a load of water-melons to the
market.

To face p. -'14.

THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE 215

"look back with pleasure to this journey, during
"which I experienced, while traversing provinces as
"wide as European kingdoms, uniform kindness and
" hospitality and the most charming courtesy. In my
" case, at least, the Chinese did not forget their pre-
" cept, ' Deal gently with strangers from afar ' " (p. 2).

"There are, of course, no fences; the main road
" picks its way through the cultivated fields ; no
" traveller ever thinks of trespassing from the road-
" way, nor did I ever see any question of trespass
" between neighbours. In this law-abiding country the
" peasantry conspicuously follow the Confucian maxim
"taught in China four hundred years before Christ,
" ' Do not unto others what you would not have others
"'do unto you.' Every rood of ground is under
" tillage " (p. 57).

"'Squeezing,' as this method of enrichment is
" termed, is, you see, not confined to America. Few
" arts, indeed, seem to be more widely distributed
"than the art of squeezing. ' Dives, the tax-dodger,'
" is as common in China as he is in the United States.
" Compare, however, any city in China, in the midst
" of the most ancient civilisation in the world, with a
"city like Chicago, which claims to have reached the
" highest development of modern civilisation, and it
"would be difficult to assert that the condition of
" public morals in the heathen city was even com-
" parable with the corruption and sin of the American
"city — a city ' nominally Christian, which is studded
" 'with churches and littered with Bibles,' but still a
"city 'where perjury is a protected industry.' No
"community is more ardent in its evangelisation of
"the 'perishing Chinese' than Chicago; but where
"in all China is there 'such a supreme embodiment
" ' of fraud, falsehood, and injustice ' as prevails in

2i6 THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE

" Chicago ? An alderman in Chicago, Mr. Stead
"tells us (p. i'j2 et seq.), receives only 156 dollars a
"year salary ; but, in addition to his salary, he enjoys
" ' practically unrestricted liberty to fill his pockets
"' by bartering away the property of the city.' 'It
" ' is expected of the alderman, as a fundamental
" ' principle, that he will steal '; and in a fruitful year,
"says the Record, the average crooked alderman
" makes 15,000 to 20,000 dollars. An assessorship in
" Chicago is worth nominally 1,500 dollars per annum;
" but ' everyone knows that in Chicago an assessor-
" ' ship is the shortest cut to fortune.'

"Squeezing in China may be common, but it is a
" humble industry compared with the monumental
"swindling which Mr. Stead describes as existing in
"Chicago" (pp. 151-52).

In Smith's Chinese Characteristics we have many
comments on Chinese character like the following : —

" One of the many admirable qualities of the Chinese
" is their innate respect for law. Whether this element
"in their character is the effect of their institutions or
"the cause of them we do not know. But what we
" do know is that the Chinese are by nature and by
"education a law-abiding people" (p. 237).

" By what means shall we explain the alarming
" increase of crime in many Western lands during
"the last thirty years? How shall we explain that
"conspicuous indifference to the sacredness of human
"life which is unquestionably a characteristic of some
"Western lands? It is vain to dogmatise in regard
" to. matters which, from the nature of the case, are
" beyond the reach of statistics. Still, we must confess
" to a decided conviction that human life is safer in a
" Chinese city than in an American city — safer in

THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE 217

" Pekin than in New York. We believe it to be
" safer for a foreigner to traverse the interior of
" China than for a Chinese to traverse the interior of
" the United States " (p. 239).

The sobriety of the Chinese, as compared with
Christian nations, is much admired by Major Knollys
in his English Life in China (1885) : —

" The extraordinary habitual abstinence of the
" Chinese from alcohol certainly is a great point in their
" favour. Their sobriety is unimpeachable ; it cannot
" be exceeded. At rare intervals some of them drink
"a little of their horrible rice spirit, called samshu,
" diluted with abundance of hot water. But through-
"out the whole of my experience never did I behold
"one single Chinaman the worse for liquor" (p. 296).

We may fitly close this short series of extracts with
a page from General Tcheng-Ki-Tong's5?Vj' of China
(1890), where the native character is indicated in an
exceptional aspect : —

" Lower down is a tomb which has been preserved
" for over eight centuries, and which contains the
" body of a young woman renowned for her mis-
" fortunes in love. The few poems of hers that have
"survived are so very sad that all persons of a
" romantic turn of mind who have read them never
"fail to pay a visit to her tomb, and to cover it with
" flowers.

" Here is a short poem written by this heart-broken
" woman : —

I prostrate myself before the Buddhist Virgin, so full of
pity and of charity,

To beg her to grant that in my future life I may neither
revisit earth nor tarry in Paradise ;

2i8 THE MORALITY OF THE CHINESE

I pray that she may bless me with a drop of dew at the
end of her willow branch,

So that I may become a double lotus blossom.

"The third line contains an allusion to the Buddhist
"ceremony of aspersion. The double lotus flower is
"supposed to bear on the same stalk a male and a
" female blossom. It is the emblem of two hearts and
"of happy loves " (p. 77).

INFANTICIDE

Against this general appreciation of the morality of
the Chinese, one or two charges of specific vice are
occasionally urged. The charge of dishonesty is
sometimes made, but it does not call for serious
attention. The honesty of the Chinese merchant is
proverbial in the world of commerce. The accusa-
tion is merely grounded on relations with petty
traders of a kind who swarm in every country.
It is generally thought, however, that the charges
of infanticide and opium-smoking are more sub-
stantial, and a few authorities must be quoted on
these. It will be seen that the almost generally
accepted belief in the West that there is a vast
amount of infanticide in China is as untrue as the
old story of the vices of Babylon or the more recent
legend of the murderous Juggernaut-car in India.
First let us hear what a cultivated Chinaman, Colonel
Tcheng-Ki-Tong, at one time military attache at Paris,
says of this " colossal lie," as he calls it : —

" Une formule, celebre en Europe, a vante I'art de
" mentir : ' Mentez, mentez, il en restera toujours
" ' quelque chose ! ' On ne peut pas donner de meil-
" leure preuve de la verite de ce principe que I'opinion
"qui s'est faite en France sur le sort de certains petits
" Chinois que leurs cruels parents jetaient aux immon-
" dices et abandonnaient a la voracite d'animaux domes-
" tiques, botes ordinaires de la fange.

"En soi, cette ceuvre de la Sainte-Enfance a un
" caractere si touchant, quand au nom de I'enfance

219

INFANTICIDE

" miserable on reunit les petits sous de I'enfance
" heureuse, ces sous qui representent les friandises
"inutiles et qui deviennent un tresor, qu'on on peut
"s'empecher d'admirer et de croire a la fable. Ces

"pauvres petits Chinois jetes aux Quelle imagina-

"tion perfide a pu inventer une pareille infamie ! "
{Les Chinois Peints Par Eux-Memes, by Tcheng-Ki-
Tong, pp. 74-75).'

Eugene Simon {China), who knows China well,
gives a decisive blow to this missionary calumny : —

"According to the agents of the ' Societe de la
" 'Sainte-Enfance,' to give it its proper name, infanti-
"cide has been raised in China to the dignity of an
"institution, tolerated, or even authorised, by the
" laws, and contempt of human life has reached such
"a point that parents have no hesitation in throwing
" to the pigs any of their children who may be a
"burden to them. Pictures illustrative of such stories
"are to be seen in the Catholic schools, and in some
"of the churches banners similarly decorated are
"occasionally displayed. These calumnies have,
" however, been frequently denied by missionaries
" in the last century, and by others now living ; and
" I may especially refer to a letter from Father Amyot,
"a Jesuit priest, published about 1790 in the fourth
"volume of the Memoires Concernant les Chinois,
" which should have brought a blush to the faces of
"the inventors of these stories, though so long as
"they bring in from five to six million francs per
"annum to the ' Societe de la Sainte-Enfance' it is
" unlikely they will be discontinued.

"Speaking as one who passed ten years in China,
"and travelled through the country from north to

' For Eng-lish translation see Conclusion.

INFANTICIDE

"south and east to west, I can declare that I have
"never known a case of infanticide either in the
" places in which I have resided or their neighbour-
"hood. I do not say that such a crime is never
"committed, but I have no hesitation in asserting
"that it is much less common in China than in
" France, and that it is nothing short of an abomin-
"able and atrocious calumny to infer the existence
"of an habitual and voluntary crime from a single
"accidental and involuntary instance of an infant
" being devoured by a pig ; and in speaking so
"strongly I have no fear of being contradicted by
"any Europeans acquainted with China other than
" those interested in such fables.

" There are also material facts which contradict
" these stories, and which a little reflection would
"show to be sufficient to demonstrate their falsehood.
" There is, for instance, the continual increase in the
" population of China, which consisted of 360,000,000
" in 1812, and amounts now to 537,000,000, and which
" in itself appears a sufficient and peremptory contra-
" diction. Infanticide, furthermore, results generally
" from misery and births outside wedlock, and I have
"already dealt with the relative comfort and misery of
" the Chinese ; while, if any further argument were
" necessary, I could assert that nowhere, perhaps,
" do there exist so few beggars as in China " (pp.
21-23),

" I must repeat my opinion that, for the reasons
" here given, infants are more rarely abandoned or
"exposed in China than in France. I was informed
" in 1862 by Father Chevrier or Cherrier, a missionary
" who was at the head of one of the institutions of
" La Sainte-Enfance at Tientsin, a town of more than
" 300,000 souls, that during the three years that had

INFANTICIDE

" elapsed from its opening he had been unable to
"obtain a single child.'

"Furthermore, in China the abandonment of a
"child is not so definite as elsewhere, but often ceases
" with the causes which have brought it about; and
"as poverty is sometimes temporary and not lasting,
" so it very frequently happens that the parents are
"able to demand their children back from the
"orphanages. No difficulty is raised as to their
" return from the Chinese orphanges ; but it is dif-
"ferent with the Catholic, whence children once
" baptised cannot be given back to non-Catholic
"parents. Hence the story of the little Matara and
" the lamentable history of the massacre of the French
" at Tientsin in 1870, which was provoked by the refusal
" of the missionaries to return to their families children
"they had obtained after the inundation of the Yellow
" River. Nor must it be forgotten that the object
" of the Sainte-Enfance is not to save the children
" from temporal but from spiritual death, so that
"the ideal of this institution would be that every
" infant should die as soon as baptised, their surviv-
" ing being simply impedimenta. A bishop, M.
" Baldus, remarked on this point to M. Delaplace,
" himself a bishop, who repeated the story to me, that
" ' an epidemic was much to be desired to relieve them
" ' of their orphans.' This was of course a joke, but
" still a joke which could only have entered the mind
" of a Catholic missionary " (pp. 24-26).

" Fewer infants by far die in the Chinese orphan-
"ages than in the Catholic, because they are better
" and more intelligently cared for ; and no nurse is

• If a similar institution for the care of unwanted children were
opened in London, it would be completely overwhelmed the next
day.— H. S. M.

INFANTICIDE 223

"allowed to take charge of more than one child;
"while in the Catholic orphanages three or four
" or, according to a medical friend of mine who wit-
" nessed the case at Macao, even more are alloted to
" one woman " (pp. 26-27).

OPIUM

Opium-smoking is one of the greatest curses in China ;
but it is necessary to remember to what an appalling
extent this evil was forced on the Chinese by Christian
nations, and to reflect how far nations with such a
record for drunkenness can afford to throw stones at
the Chinese. From the following scraps which have
been taken from various publications, including the
Eiicyclopcedia Britannica, it will be seen that opium
was forced upon the Chinese by the British Govern-
ment— which would not have happened if the
British people themselves had understood the subject.
Perhaps there is no single act in the history of
mankind that has caused so much suffering and
misery in the world as this forced introduction of a
noxious drug, and which was done at the mouth of
the cannon.

I am well aware of the fact that many Englishmen
have attempted to excuse or justify this action by
asserting that the Chinese themselves surreptitiously
cultivated the poppy to some extent in their western
provinces at the time, and that, since opium was
forced upon them, they have allowed the poppy to be
cultivated and opium to be manufactured in all of
their provinces.

It does not require much intelligence to enable one
to see that this particular kind of special pleading is
fallacious in every particular. Opium was forced
upon China because the Chinese were not a fighting
nation. Let us imagine a parallel case in the United

224

OPIUM 22S

States. In the State of Maine and in some other
states it is illegal to manufacture or deal in alcoholic
drinks ; still, a considerable percentage of mankind in
these prohibitive States would only be too glad to
drink alcohol if they could get it ; and if an outsider
could bring alcohol into these States and dispose
of it to the people, he would make a lot of money.
Suppose now that Canada, a British colony, the
Canadians being manufacturers of whiskey, should
seek a market for it in the States, where the sale is
illegal, and that the British Government should come
to the aid of the Canadians with a powerful fleet and
attempt to force the sale of alcohol, defending the
transaction on the ground that 3,000 miles away in
California barley was grown and whiskey manu-
factured. What would Europe and America think of
such a proceeding? Then again, let us see how such
a scheme would work. China has a population of
more than four hundred million peaceful, law-abiding
citizens, who believe in justice instead of warfare.
The United States has a population of one hundred
million people, who know that justice is a very rare
thing, and that force of arms is the only thing on
which a nation can implicitly depend. In China a
few thousand men, with perhaps twenty ships, forced
their opium upon the Chinese. How many men and
how many ships would it require to force alcoholic
drinks upon the States of Maine and Ohio? If such
an attempt were being made, the Americans could
very easily put a force of five million men in the field
without crippling their industries ; and as it would
take at least three Europeans to displace one American
fighting on the defensive in his own country, it would
require probably fifteen million Europeans to have a
chance of success, and as many as twenty millions to

Q

226 OPIUM

ensure it. There would not, indeed, be ships enough
in the world to take them to America.

Now, if the Chinese wish to have the same immunity
in their domestic affairs as the Americans have, there
is only one sure way to acquire it, and that is to learn
to fight ; fighting is the only thing on which they
can depend.

When the Chinese found that they were unable to
keep opium out of their country, they repealed the law
against its production in China as the only means to
combat the English importers, the idea being that, if
the Chinese produced the article cheaper than it could
be produced in India, the foreign trade in opium
would fall off and become unprofitable. Under these
conditions it might be possible to make a new treaty
with England, which would prevent the importation
of opium altogether ; and thus, by prohibiting its pro-
duction in China, the whole trouble would be cured.
This is, in fact, the only way out of the difficulty
except by force of arms.

The Chinese have been in possession of their
country for many thousands of years, and one would
naturally suppose that they had a perfect right to
prohibit the importation of a noxious drug into their
own country. But Europe knows of no right except
might, and China's only hope of fair treatment is to
be prepared to do what the United States of America
would do under similar circumstances — fight.

The following extracts will show how grave has
been the responsibility of England and other Christian
nations in this regard. We will, however, return at
the end of this section to the general subject of the
conduct of Europeans in Asia : —

" The chief cause of complaint adduced by the
"mandarins was the introduction of opium by the

A Chinese Opium Smoking^ Saloon.

The smokini;" of opium produces a kind of languor,
and causes the smoker to feel at peace with all the
world. On the other hand, alcohol produces a species
of temporary acceleration and combativeness, with a
desire to dispute and to fight. Opium smokers never
make good soldiers, and alcohol drinkers often make
the very best. I, however, do not recommend alcohol
to the Chinese, or opium to Europeans.

To face p. 226.

OPIUM 227

" merchants ; and for years they attempted by every
" means in their power — by stopping all foreign trade,
" by demands for the prohibition of the traffic in the
" drug, and by vigilant preventive measures — to put
" a stop to its importation. At length Captain Elliot,
" the Superintendent of Trade, in 1839, agreed that
"all the opium in the hands of Englishmen should be
" given to the native authorities, and he exacted a
" pledge from the merchants that they would no
"longer deal in the drug. On the 3rd April 20,283
" chests of opium were handed over to the mandarins,
" and were by them destroyed — a sufficient proof that
" they were in earnest in their endeavours to suppress
" the traffic. This demand of Commissioner Lin was
" considered by the English Government to amount
" to a casus belli, and in 1840 war was declared. In
" the same year the fleet captured Chusan, and in the
"following year the Bogue Forts fell, in consequence
" of which operations the Chinese agreed to cede
" Hong-Kong to the victors, and to pay them an
"indemnity of 6,000,000 dollars. As soon as this
" news reached Pekin, Ke Shen, who had succeeded
" Commissioner Lin, was dismissed from his post
"and degraded, and Yih Shan, another Tartar, was
"appointed in his room. But before the new commis-
" sioner reached his post Canton had fallen into the
" hands of Sir Hugh Gough, and shortly afterwards
"Amoy, Ningpo, Tinghai in Chusan, Chapoo,
"Shanghai, and Chinkeang Foo shared the same
" fate ; and a like evil would have happened to Nan-
"king had not the Imperial Government, dreading
"the loss of the 'southern capital,' proposed terms
"of peace. After much discussion. Sir Henry
" Pottinger, who had succeeded Captain Elliot,
" concluded, in 1842, a treaty with the Imperial

22S OPIUM

" Commissioners, by which the four additional ports of
" Amoy, Fuh-chow-Foo, Ningpo, and Shanghai were
" declared open to foreign trade, and an indemnity of
"21,000,000 dollars was to be paid to the English"
{Encyclopcedia Britannica, Vol. V, p. 651).

"In 1839 a proclamation was issued threatening
"hostile measures if the English opium ships serving
"as depots were not sent away. The demand for
"removal not being complied with, 20,291 chests
"of opium (of 149 one-third lbs. each), valued at
"p^2, 000,000, were destroyed by the Chinese Com-
" missioner Lin ; but still the British sought to
"smuggle cargoes on shore, and some outrages com-
" mitted on both sides led to an open war, which was
"ended by the treaty of Nanking in 1842 (see
"China, Vol. V, p. 651).

"From that time to the present, in spite of the
" remonstrances of the Chinese Government, the
"exportation of opium from India to China has con-
" tinued, having increased from 52,925 piculs (of 133
"one-third lb.) in 1850 to 96,839 piculs in 1880"
{Ibid., Vol. XVII, p. 788).

Mr. Chester Holcombe, the distinguished American
authority, deals with the subject at length in his
work. The Real Chinese Question, from which I take
a few pages : —

" By way of example, it is not possible to believe
"that if the fair-minded and generous-spirited men
"and women of Great Britain had been accurately
" and plainly informed of the facts ; if they had known
" what ruin was being wrought upon the Chinese ; if
" they had been made at all familiar with the argu-
" ments, protests, and appeals of the Imperial Govern-
" ment, and with its bitter opposition ; if they had

OPIUM 229

"understood the infamous purpose for which British
" soldiers and British ships of war were sent to China,
" and used there, and blood was shed, and lives wasted
" — if they could have been made to see all these things,
" it is not possible to believe that their Government
"would have been allowed to persist in the opium
" traffic, and to work such a cruel wrong upon China.
"But China was 'absent.' And China was silent
"when she should have appealed to a larger audience
"than the Ministers, who cared little for appeals and
" protests ; she should have appealed to a power
"higher than the throne — to the power behind it"
(pp. v-vi).'

" From the point of view of the Chinese Govern-
" ment — and that alone is of concern in this chapter —
"all of these evils, sorrows, and losses came as the
" result of a patriotic determination upon its part to
" protect its people against impoverishment, de-
"bauchery, and destruction, by the enforcement of
" the laws of the empire. Again, from their point
" of view, the Chinese authorities deserved success.
"They met with the most humiliating and hopeless
" failure. They had pledged themselves to sit with
" folded arms while their ancient and wholesome
" laws were violated and their people sucked dry of
" morality, manhood, and money, by a black vampire
"from India, let loose upon them by Great Britain,
"to satisfy its own insatiable greed " (pp. 276-77).

" In the summer of 1873 the writer had occasion to

' The Engflish public are certainly well disposed, and there is no
question that, if the villainy of this opium transaction could have
been brought before them, they would very quickly have put a stop
to it ; but how would it have been possible for the Chinese people to
have accomplished this ? The Chinese have been greatly puzzled.
They say : " You have forced your opium upon us at the mouth of
"the cannon, and you have sent your missionaries to tell us that we
"shall all be sent into everlasting torments if we use it." — H. S. M.

230 OPIUM

" discuss certain outstanding matters between the
" United States and China with Wen Hsiang, then
" Prime Minister, and one of the most able statesmen
" of the Empire. Official business having been con-
" eluded, the Prime Minister said: 'Now let us
" 'forget that we represent two different governments,
" ' and only remember that we are friends, as I have
" ' two perplexing questions about which I am most
" 'anxious to obtain your advice.' This having been
"agreed to, Wen Hsiang made the following state-
" ment of one of the two questions upon which he
" sought friendly counsel : As a result of long-
" continued and anxious discussions over the opium
" traffic, and the alarming spread of the vice of opium-
" smoking throughout the empire — discussions in
" which the Empress Dowager, the Empress Mother,
"the Imperial Family Council, the Cabinet, and all
" the viceroys throughout the empire had taken part —
" it had been decided to prepare a personal appeal
"in the name of the young Emperor, then under age,
"to the Queen of Great Britain, setting forth the
"evils being wrought upon the Chinese nation in
"consequence of the importation of opium, and
"begging her, in the name of a common humanity,'
" to agree with him upon measures by which the
"traffic might be at once, or gradually, brought to
"an end.

" Such a letter was prepared. It showed the
"dreadful harm already wrought in China by opium,
"and increasing with frightful rapidity. It pointed
" out that the traffic was the foe to all rightful com-

' It was not a. question at all of rig-ht, justice, or humanity, but
one purely of £, s. d. An admittedly great wrong was being
inflicted upon a helpless people, simply for gain. In one hundred
years China has paid England over ;£8oo,ooo,ooo for opium. —
H. S. M.

OPIUM 231

" merce, and, if allowed to continue, would put an end
"to the latter, by leaving the Chinese neither money
"nor commodities to exchange for foreign products.
"It offered anything that might be desired in the
" way of concession to British trade anywhere in the
" Empire, agreeing in advance to yield to any demand,
" if only this one curse against which China had
"fought in vain for years might be removed. And
"it begged Her Majesty, both as a queen and as a
" woman, to heed the appeal, and to concert measures
" for the suppression of the hideous opium curse.
"The letter was phrased with the utmost care to
" avoid wounding the pride of, or giving any offence
"to, the British nation. It was despatched in 1868
".through the British Legation at Pekin, the minister
" being requested to take special measures to ensure
" that it reached the hands of the Queen.

"Some six months having passed and no reply
"coming to hand, a member of the Cabinet inquired
" casually of the British Minister at Pekin whether
" any answer had been received to the letter of His
" Majesty to the Queen. He was told that none had
"come. This was repeated several times, at intervals
" of months, with always the same result. Then an
"official communication was sent to Her Majesty's
" representative requesting him to inform the Chinese
" Cabinet whether the Emperor's letter had reached
"the Queen, and, if so, when a response to it might
" be expected. After the interval necessary for trans-
" mission of inquiry and answer, they were told that
" the Emperor's letter had reached Her Majesty, but
" no intimation was given concerning an answer
"from her. Again, after waiting some months, the
" Chinese Cabinet addressed a formal despatch to the
" British Minister, requesting to know when they

232 OPIUM

'might be favoured with a reply to His Imperial
' Majesty's letter. To this despatch they received a
' prompt answer, saying that no reply had been
'received, and adding curtly that none need be
'expected. And Wen Hsiang desired the advice
' of the writer as to what had best be done in view
' of these facts.

" Many months after this conversation, and after the
'death of the Chinese Prime Minister, who was a
' party to it, the writer came upon an article in the
^International Review — a London publication —
'written by a distinguished British Advocate and
' Queen's Counsel, entitled ' Great Britain, India,
' ' China, and the Opium Question.' In it the writer
' mentioned this appeal of the Emperor Tung Chin
' to Queen Victoria, and said : ' To the everlasting
' ' shame and disgrace of the British nation, no
' 'answer was ever made to this appeal. The reason
' ' is obvious : no answer was possible ' " (pp. 277-80).

" Probably enough has been said of the part
'played by the self-styled 'leading Christian Power
' 'of the world' in forcing this horrible curse upon
'the Chinese nation for the sake of the enormous
' revenue derived from the traffic. It is humiliating
'to anyone who has English blood in his veins to
'recall the facts, and to discover that the British
' Government is loudest and most imperative in the
' demand for reforms, while that Government is, in
'the main, alone responsible for fastening a vice
'upon China which renders any reform difficult to
' the verge of impossibility " (p. 385).

It is hardly necessary to multiply authorities, and
we will close the subject with a few short passages
from the leading writers on China.

OPIUM 233

" Opium, a terrible plague to society, is also intro-
" duced, and though opium-smokers are not so
"numerous as is supposed, since the consumption of
"this article does not exceed 400,000,000 francs
"worth (^16,000,000) for 537,000,000 of inhabitants,
" it has already created considerable disorder in the
"management of the soil. The cultivation of the
"poppy, forbidden until i860, has been authorised
"since Europeans compelled the Government to
" admit its product, and occupies millions of acres,
" which the people see taken away from more
" necessary cultivation with much dislike " (Eugene
Simon, China, p. 155).

The two following extracts are from J. H. Wilson's
Travels in the Middle Kingdom (1888) : —

" My purpose in summarising the events of the
" Opium War is to call attention to the fact that two
" hundred years of peaceful commerce at Canton had
" produced no direct effect whatever upon the Chinese
" people or their Government, except to convince them
" that the foreigners were all alike, greedy and turbu-
" lent. It brought with it no benefit, except the little
"that flowed from the sale of tea and silk, and the
" purchase of a few articles of foreign manufacture ;
" and this was offset ten thousand-fold by the opium
" scourge, which has become a source of never-ending
"misery to the Chinese people" (p. 328).

" The Chinese Government was powerless to resist
" the demands contained in the ultimatum of the allies.
" The treaties were ratified and exchanged with great
" pomp inside the imperial city, an additional sum of
" ;^ioo,ooo was ^exacted for the benefit of the prisoners
"and their families, and another of 8,000,000 taels to
" defray the expenses of the victors. Kowlung, on the

234 OPIUM

" mainland opposite to Hong-Kong, was ceded to the
" British ; permission was given for the emigration of
" Chinese coolies, either voluntarily or under contract ;
"and the question of the residence of foreign ministers
"at Pekin on terms of equality, and their reception
"by the Emperor, without the kotow or any other
"form of humiliation, was settled forever. The
" French, as well as the English, received a money
"indemnity ; but, instead of asking for a concession
"of land, they demanded and received payment at
" Pekin for all the churches, schools, cemeteries,
" lands, and buildings wrested from the persecuted
" native Christians throughout the empire in years
"gone by" (p. 341).

Finally, Mr. Giles {Chinese Sketches) warns us to
retain some sense of proportion in judging the
Chinese habit of opium-smoking : —

" We do not deny that opium is a curse, in so far as
" a large number of persons would be better without
" it ; but, comparing its use as a stimulant with that
" of alcoholic liquors in the West, we are bound to
"admit that the comparison is very much to the
" disadvantage of the latter. Where opium kills its
" hundreds, gin counts its victims by thousands ; and
"the appalling scenes of drunkenness so common to
"a European city are of the rarest occurrence in
" China. In a country where the power of corporal
" punishments is placed by law in the hands of the
" husband, wife-beating is unknown ; and in a country
"where an ardent spirit can be supplied to the people
" at a low price, delirium tremens is an untranslatable
" term. Who ever sees in China a tipsy man reeling
"about a crowded thoroughfare, or lying with his
" head in a ditch by the side of some country road ?

OPIUM 23s

" The Chinese people are naturally sober, peaceful,
"and industrious ; they fly from intoxicating, quarrel-
"some samshoo to the more congenial opium-pipe,
"which soothes the weary brain, induces sleep, and
"invigorates the tired body" (pp. 1 13-14).'

• Yes, indeed, opium does invigorate the body for the moment, at
a terrible expense to the future. — H. S. M.

THE MISSIONARY NUISANCE

According to some writers, there were about twenty-
million Mohammedans in Western China before
Europeans amputated certain slices of their territory.
It has been said that the Chinese opposition to the
introduction of this faith led to a good deal of
trouble ; and it is estimated that about twenty million
Chinese lost their lives on account of the introduction
of Mohammedanism — that is, one death for every
Mohammedan convert. It is safe to say that, in
order to make the same number of Christian converts,
the destruction of lives would have to be many times
greater.

The Taiping Rebellion, which was the only Chris-
tian movement that ever took root in China, cost the
Chinese fourteen million lives and the destruction of
a vast amount of property. At least three million
Chinese have lost their lives on account of the wars
that foreign Christians have made upon China ; there-
fore, in her vain attempts to keep supernaturalism out
of her country China has lost through Mohammedan
and Christian missionaries a population equal to that of
the French Republic. In addition to this, the Chinese
have been forced to pay in the way of indemnities to
other nations who have made war upon them a sum
of money which, if it were all in gold, would weigh
1,632 American tons. In every case, if justice had
been done, the indemnity should have been doubled
and paid to the Chinese instead of to the invaders.

It would, therefore, appear very desirable to keep
the missionaries out of China, where they have

236

THE MISSIONARY NUISANCE 237

wrought incalculable harm ; but if China does not
arm and defend herself, still greater burdens will be
heaped upon her, until the indemnities become so
high that virtually every working man in China will
be taxed to the utmost to earn the necessary money
to satisfy the insatiable maw of foreign invaders ; in
other words, the Chinese will be reduced to a state of
slavery.

Before the time of Voltaire, the French agriculturist
had to contribute about eleven-twelfths of all that he
could produce to pay taxes and keep his soul out of
purgatory. At that time the Pope received four times
as much of the revenue of France as the King him-
self. France was in a deplorable condition ; and if
the people of China wish to avoid a similar state of
affairs, they must learn to fight and defend themselves:
it is the only remedy.

Most of the recent wars that have been forced upon
China have been due to missionary enterprise. China
is a vast empire, and it is absolutely impossible for
the Government at Pekin to protect missionaries in
every obscure hole and corner of so vast an empire,
no matter how strong it may be. Great Britain
has a very strong Government. Still, with its very
small territory it would be quite impossible to protect
Chinese missionaries throughout the British Isles ;
they would be sure to be murdered, not only in Ireland
and Wales, but even in London itself, if they carried
out the same propaganda against the superstitions of
this country as the missionaries carry on against the
religion and philosophy of the Chinese. In many
cases the missionaries have been persecuted for
burning the wooden gods of the Chinese. We find
illustrations of this kind in the life of St. Francis
Xavier. How would Chinese missionaries be treated

238 THE MISSIONARY NUISANCE

in Ireland should they make a raid on a Roman
Catholic church, take out the wooden gods and
crosses, and burn them in the public square a la
St. Francis Xavier ? Do we not know that they would
be murdered on the spot ?

There have been cases in the United States of
America where several hundreds of peaceable and
law-abiding Chinese have been massacred for no other
reason than race hatred and doing too much work
for the pay they received. I believe that something
of the same kind often takes place in Australia.

Russia is a great and populous country, and her
people have reached just that stage of civilisation
where they are the most susceptible to religious
influences. If the missionaries were allowed to enter
Russia as freely as they do China, they would have
the whole country deluged in blood within a few
years. The horrors of the Middle Ages in Europe
would be repeated in Russia ; but the Emperor and
the ruling class know that all missionary propaganda
is nonsense and very dangerous to the people, and
so the missionaries are kept out of Russia, In some
cases missionaries have been arrested in Siberia,
and have escaped into China for safety. If China
were allowed the same rights that all the world grants
to Russia — if she were allowed to expel the mission-
aries in the same manner that the Russians expel
them, it would relieve China of a very dangerous
trouble, saving millions of lives and tons of gold.

In Russia an orthodox Christian is not allowed to
change his faith. If he joins another Church, he is
imprisoned for it. If such a law were enforced in
China, the bogus converts to Christianity which give
them so much trouble would cease to exist ; and
certainly the Chinese ought to be granted the same

THE MISSIONARY NUISANCE 239

rights in their own country that the Russians enjoy-
in Russia. Even in poor, little, and weak Spain we
acknowledge the right of the people to limit the
propaganda of foreign missionaries.

I repeat that, if China wishes to be treated like
other nations, she must learn to fight. Force is the
only power that is respected by Europeans and
Americans.

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

How would it suit us in England if we had a lot of
Chinese priests forced upon us, and they were to dress
in uniforms of royal scarlet, and insist upon sitting on
the bench beside the judge in all law-suits where an
English convert to the Chinese religion was a de-
fendant? How would it suit us to have Chinese
priests in England who were able to grant licences to
criminals to carry on their trade in London without
any fear of being interfered with by the police? In
China, however, this is taking place daily. To be
baptised and made a Catholic means a licence to
commit crime without punishment.

If an Englishman enters one of our courts of justice,
he is bound to show respect to the judge. This is a
sine qua non demanded by us. Suppose the Chinese
priests who had been forced upon us should refuse to
salute thejudge after the conventional manner, and the
judge had no power to commit the offender for con-
tempt of court, how should we like it? We should
protest, and protest very strongly. The Chinese
dislike it just as much as we should, perhaps more ;
but unfortunately they have to submit to it until they
are able to fight and defend themselves.

As purple was the royal colour of Imperial Rome,
so yellow is the royal colour of Imperial China. In
Rome it was a death penalty for anyone to assume
the purple except the Emperor himself, and in China
imperial yellow is reserved for the Emperor and the
highest officials in the empire. No one 15 allowed to

240

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 241

appropriate this colour except those authorised by the
Government. Nevertheless, the Roman Catholics
dress themselves in imperial yellow, and travel about
the country with all of the fittings and paraphernalia
of royalty ; and of course this exasperates the Chinese.
If they take any steps to prevent it, it is reported to
the French Consul or some other Roman Catholic
Consul, who interferes and threatens to send for a gun-
boat if the Chinese law is enforced against the priests.

Would we in England calmly submit to a lot of
Chinese priests coming to this country, dressing in
royal robes with servants in royal livery, and travel-
ling about so as to be mistaken for royalty and to
claim all the rights and privileges of royalty?
Suppose, for example, that these priests were to raise
one of their number to the rank of a bishop who at
once assumed the dignity of the Lord Mayor, having
the same carriages and livery. This is exactly what
is taking place in China every day. True, it is quite
illegal; but what can the Chinese do? Simply
nothing until they are able to fight. The following
passages will show the guilt of the missionaries in
these two respects : —

The C. M. S. Report for 1899 (p. 329) says : —

" It is now a very common practice for men whose
" sole object is to plunder, to avoid paying their debts,
"and to escape punishment by the authorities, to
" place their names as Romanists on the register of
" the Roman Catholic Church. They are then entitled
"to the protection of the Roman priest and bishop,
" and of the French Consul, and can, and do, commit
"acts of violence with impunity."

The Report for 1900 also says : —

" The anti-foreign and anti-Christian sentiment
"finds some palliation and excuse for its existence,

R

242 MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

" alas ! in the arbitrary acts of interference with

"native tribunals to serve the interests of a

" religious propaganda " (p. 360).

" And on page 383 we are told of ' churches ' that
" have been organised by natives for the express
" purpose of affording protection in law cases.

" Of course, the Protestants confine the charges to
" the Catholics ; the Catholics are equally ready in
" bringing the same charges against Protestants.
" There is plenty of evidence, however, that this inter-
"ference with native tribunals is pretty common to
" all. The L. M. S. Report asserts that their mission-
" aries carefully avoid interference in law cases, except
" ' where downright oppression and interference with
" * religious liberty are involved.' There could hardly
" be a more complete admission of guilt. It is exactly
"the plea that is used by Roman Catholics to justify
"their acts of interference" (C. Cohen, Foreign
Missions, pp. 30-31).

" It is undeniable that much ill-will has been excited
"in China by frequent interference upon the part of
" Roman Catholic priests between native professors of
" that faith and the local authorities. This is especially
"the case in the remote south-western provinces of
"the empire. The number of adherents there is
"large, and the officials, having little knowledge of
"foreigners, are necessarily timid in the exercise of
" their authority and the performance of their duties.
" They are easily frightened by the threat of a refer-
"ence or a complaint to a legation at Pekin, The
" priests there, in some cases at least, have undertaken
" to enforce the idea of the temporal authority of the
" Church, and have attempted to add political jurisdic-
" tion to their spiritual functions. The result is bitter
"ill-feeling and constant strife. There are more

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 243

"so-called ' missionary cases' in the province of Sze-
"Chuan in each year than in the entire remaining
"seventeen provinces of the empire.

"The priests are also charged with having assumed
" official dress and title, and with the habitual viola-
"tion of certain sumptuary laws of the empire — laws
" which are strictly enforced, under the most severe
" penalties, against all Chinese. These charges also,
" in some instances at least, are well founded. A
" bishop of that Church has been seen travelling the
" circuit of his diocese in a sedan-chair covered with
" ' imperial yellow,' borne by eight men, and attended
" by a numerous retinue, and all dressed in official
" uniform. The ' imperial yellow ' is reserved for the
" exclusive use of the Emperor, and any Chinese
"sufficiently bold to make use of it would suffer
" immediate decapitation. The use of sedan-chairs of
" the larger size is restricted to civil and military
" officials of and above a specified rank, and none
"below the grade of viceroy may employ eight
"bearers. Another bishop journeyed about the
" network of rivers and canals found within his juris-
" diction, with the assumed rank, retinue, and flag of
" an ambassador, or diplomatic representative of the
"highest class" (C. Holcombe, The Real Chinese
Question, pp. 248-49).

" Among the disturbing elements now at work in
"furthering the general state of anarchy prevalent in
" China the missionary question is not the least
" important.

" It has often been remarked that, wherever the
" viceroy of a Chinese province was resolved to keep
" the peace with foreigners, orders were given to sub-
" ordinate officials to avoid quarrels with the Catholic
" missions or their converts, and, when quarrels did

244 MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

" break out, the orders were to patch them up
" immediately and to cede everything that was
" required, to prevent the missionaries from making a
"claim through their consuls" (A. R. Colquhoun,
Overland to China, p. 349).

" The release of Father Fleury is a great disappoint-
" ment to the French authorities, who reckoned on
"vast concessions being obtained by way of revenge
"for his capture and captivity. There is, in fact,
" little doubt that the French have been preparing for
"a big movement in Western China, somewhat on
"the Russian pattern, and they may still have con-
"siderable successes; for, though they have lost
" Father Fleury for the moment as a means of
" pressure, there is still the destruction of missions
"and other property, which they will exploit to the
" utmost'" (Ibid., p. 357).

" The Bishop of Canton desired to build, instead
"of a church, a cathedral at a probable cost of
" millions of francs, for what reason is not apparent,
"since the town contains but 300 or 400 converts.
" With what funds the desired consummation was to
" be effected is also not apparent, since he, like his
"colleagues, had received only a portion of a sum
"of 100,000 francs (;^4,ooo). 'God will provide,'
"said the Bishop, and the foundations were made
" with the money allotted, and the first stone laid, at
"which ceremony the Viceroy, who had been duly
"invited, was present. This effected, the materials
" were at an end. Application was accordingly made
"to the Consul. ' Would it not be possible to obtain
" ' authority to take the stones which have fallen from
" ' such a hill, and which obstruct the road not far

' The French have evidently taken a hint from the German
Emperor and decided to fish with live bait. — H. S. M.

Propitiatopy Offepings fop Depapted
Relatives.

This system is supposed to have the same effect oii'
tlie ghosts of tlie departed as masses do in the Roman
Catholic system. When the Roman Catliolic dies he
tinds himself in Purgatory, and he has to stay there
until some of his relatives pay a priest to say masses
for his release. In China the process is infinite!)'
cheaper and simpler, and consists for the inost part of
burning bits of coloured paper ; its efficiency, however,
Is exactly the same as with the masses — both work
equally well. The Roman Catholics would be well
advised if they adopted this system and abolished
Purgatory. But this is not likely to happen, as there
would be nothing in it for the priests.

To fact; p. M44-

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 24s

'"from the town? It would be doing a public
"'service by opening the road.' The Consul duly
" obtained authority from the Viceroy, and, funds
" being wanting, a further levy was made on the war
"indemnity. Shortly after the material again fell
" short.

" ' If the loose stones could be taken from the hill,
" ' it would prevent a public danger.' Authority was
" duly obtained, and a further levy made on the war
" indemnity. Once more the stones fell short.

"'Ah, Consul, if you could only get permission
" 'for us to dig into the mountain. A mere nothing
"'would suffice.' ' Yes,' said the Viceroy, 'but do
" ' not disturb the burial ground, and do not dig in
" ' front of it, or you will endanger its safety, and the
" ' people will be angered.' The operations pro-
"ceeded, but so far from a mere nothing being suffi-
" cient they were carried so far that the townspeople
" became annoyed and gave free vent to their feelings.
" The Viceroy gave warning. ' Never mind, let us
"'go on,' and the operation proceeded, until one
"day the people attacked the converts.

"There are numerous instances of this kind. A
" child is converted, for example, and in consequence
" renounces ancestral worship and his contribution to
"its expenses. His brothers and relations demand
"that he shall give up his share of his inheritance,
" which he refuses to do. A lawsuit follows, with
"which the missionaries interfere ; they in their turn
"are requested to take their departure. This is
"called persecution in the annals of the propagation
" of the faith.

" A criminal is being pursued and requests baptism,
" which is granted, together with a temporary asylum.
" The magistrate continues the pursuit, and arrests the

246 MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

"guilty person. This again is called persecution in
"the annals.

"The dream of most missionaries is to possess the
"right to administer justice to their converts, and
"they would not hesitate to bring about a new war
" if they could hope to obtain in a new treaty a clause
"giving them this right, even if gained after the
" fashion of M. Delamarre.

"And was it not thus that at Rome Christianity
" made its earlier progress ?

" Power in every form is the object of the most
" ardent desires of the missionaries, and in fact it is
" not only a proof of success, it is the best means of
"retaining it. M. Delamarre himself told me that
" on one occasion, not being received by the Viceroy
"with all the honours reserved for mandarins of high
" rank, he entered in a rage, struck the usher whose
" business it was to see that the countersign was
"respected, and, violently crossing the courts and
"apartments, presented himself before the Viceroy
"with threats in his mouth. He claimed, certainly,
"the position of French delegate, but with what
" object ?

" M. Faurie, Bishop of Kwei-Chow, and the
" Bishop of Chensi, take the insignia of the highest
"officials in the towns they inhabit, and traverse the
" provinces surrounded by escorts in which the cross,
" banners, mitre, Catholic ornaments, and red gowns
" of the choristers are confused with the fans, parasols,
" and all the paraphernalia of Chinese authority,
" provoking the laughter and jests of some and the
"anger of others " (Eug. Simon, China, pp. 162-64).

" I shall never forget the difficulties placed by
" M. Desfleches, the Bishop of Se-Chuen, in the way
"of my journey in that province, or the tricks he

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 247

" played me after my arrival there. He feared that I
"should show the converts, preserved up till then
"from all profane contact, that all Frenchmen did
" not frequent mass, nor bend their knees before the
" bishops, nor kiss their pastoral ring.

" I escaped his toils, however, and approached the
" frontier of Se-Chuen, where I found a missionary
" selected by the Bishop, who accompanied me every-
" where as guide and interpreter, and showed himself
" full of devotion. The rogue was playing me false.
" The Bishop, I discovered later, had caused a report
"to be spread that I had come to investigate the
" details of the rising against the converts, and to
" hasten the punishment of the guilty ; and this
" report was confirmed by the presence of the mis-
" sionary at my side. This was the object of his
" politeness ! Then one day, in spite of my refusals,
"warnings, and precautions, I found myself, without
" knowing how, in the midst of a church on fire. He
"had been cleverer than I, and, though I returned
" from his province, he cannot be said to have helped
" me. On the contrary, he did all he could to leave
" me there.

" I will give one more instance of a graver nature,
"since it cost the lives of several Frenchmen and the
" humiliation of our flag, without taking into con-
" sideration the murder of thousands of natives.

"This event took place in Corea. Father Feron,
" being discontented with the King and Government,
" resolved to replace them. It was only a question of
" reaching, during the night, the ancient and rich
" burial-places of former kings, carrying away their
"contents, and returning them only on certain condi-
"tions. He resolved to make the attempt, and came
"to Shanghai, where he chartered a Portuguese

248 MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

" merchant vessel, the captain of which was a thorough
"scamp, promised the plunder to the crew, and
"departed with the ship. The effort failed, and
"the missionaries who had remained in Corea were
"hung. Father Feron was sent back to France by
"the legation.

"Some time afterwards the admiral commanding
"the French squadron in Chinese waters, urged on
" by other missionaries, determined to avenge the
"death of their predecessors. He went to Corea,
"whence he returned beaten, with the loss of several
"men, killed and wounded" {Ibid., pp. 165-67).

Another characteristic of the missionaries is that
they misrepresent the great literature and ethics of
the Chinese, and carp at ancient dogmas in sweet
unconsciousness of their own. The missionaries
have a peculiar formation of the brain ; either the
quantity of grey matter is too small, or the circulation
of the blood too limited to make their brain work in a
proper manner. The result is that they are quite
unable to reason or think in a rational way. To
these gentlemen the Chinese superstition known as
the Fung Shui, which, however, is only believed by
the very ignorant, is a very absurd and mischievous
superstition, and they cannot find words sufficiently
strong to ridicule this " preposterous superstition."

Let us see now what the facts really are. The
Fung Shui in China belongs to that class of super-
stitions known as folk-lore in Northern Europe. It
is no more absurd than fortune-telling in England,
and the worst that can be said of it is that it forms a
peg on which the necromancers of that country can
hang a system akin to fortune-telling, and in which
they are able to act as intermediaries between man

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 249

and the invisible powers of air and water. No doubt
this Fung Shui is rather mischievous to the poor and
ignorant, and it would be much better for them if
these necromancers could be done away with.

The missionaries do not hesitate to ridicule the
Chinese Fung Shui ; but it never occurs to them
that, if the Chinese should take on the Fung Shui of
the missionaries, it would be a hundred times as
mischievous as the Chinese variety. At the very
least the Christian Fung Shui requires fifty-two
whole days in a year. If our Sunday Fung Shui
should be introduced into China, it would be infinitely
worse than the local institution, and, as at present the
Chinese have to work every day in the week in order
to live, the Christian Fung Shui would, in the very
nature of things, cause a good many of them to
starve.

A Chinaman has written that, if the Chinese should
take over the Christian Fung Shui instead of their
own, many would have to starve. I quote the follow-
ing {Chinaman^ s Letters to English Readers) : —

" Suppose, now, that our people should exchange
"their Fung Shui for the English system ; suppose
"that they should take over the English Sunday
" Fung Shui ; it would then require one entire day in
" every week to propitiate and make peace with these
" dragons and devils. It would also be necessary for
"them to say over certain formulae several times a
"day to pacify other imaginary phantoms of the air.
"All this would take time — we should simply starve.
" It will therefore be evident that our people could
" not possibly exchange their present Fung Shui for
" one which would require at least ten times as much

"time to propitiate We do not want your Fung

"Shui. We do not wish for any system of religion

250 MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

" in which devils and miracles have any place whatso-
"ever."

I also quote the Encyclopcedia Britannica on
Chinese literature : —

"It would not be dealing fairly by Chinese litera-
" ture were we to leave this part of our subject without
" referring to the historical and literary encyclopcedias
" which form so very notable a feature in every library
"throughout the country. The best known of these
"compilations, and the one which may be taken as a
" specimen of the class, is the Wan henn tung kaou,
"by Ma Twan-lin. This work has been more largely
"drawn upon by European authors than any other
" Chinese book of reference, and those who are best
" acquainted with it are those who speak most highly
"in its praise. 'One cannot cease to admire,' says
" Remuscat, ' the depth of research which the author
" ' was compelled to make in order to collect his
" ' materials, the sagacity he has shown in the
"'arrangement of them, and the clearness and pre-
" ' cision with which he has presented this multitude
" ' of objects in every light. It may fairly be said
" ' that this excellent work is a library in itself, and
" ' that, if Chinese literature contained nothing else, it
" ' would be worth while to learn the language in
" ' order to read it. One has only to choose the
" ' subject one wishes to study, and one finds all the
" ' facts recorded and classified, all the sources of
" ' information indicated, and all the authorities cited
" 'and discussed.'"

" It elevates our opinion," says Wells Williams,
" of a nation whose literature can boast of a work like
" this exhibiting such patient investigation and candid
"comparison of authorities, such varied research and
"just discrimination of what is truly important, and

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 251

"so extensive a mass of facts and opinions upon
"every subject of historical interest" (Vol. V, pp.
663-64).

I should like also to reproduce here some passages
from an article which I wrote in the R. P. A. Annual
(191 1), following up various remarks I had made on
the Chinese missionaries. I asserted that the mission-
aries are, and always have been, "the greatest liars
"on the face of the earth," and that a good deal of
our misconception regarding China and the nations
of the East was due to missionary falsehoods. I also
strongly advocated the establishment of a militant
Anti-Missionary Society to combat the evil influences
of the misguided missionaries : —

"St. Francis Xavier was, without doubt, the most
" noted missionary ever sent to the East. Let anyone
"go to a Catholic bookstall and purchase a Life of
"this * remarkable saint and greatest of missionaries,'
"and he will find that, as a liar, St. Francis Xavier is
" worthy to occupy a pedestal far above that of Ananias
" or Baron Munchausen. From his Life, which is
" published by the sanction of the Roman Catholic
" Church, we learn that this saint had complete control
" over the weather — he could stop the wind and quell
"the most violent storm by simply raising his hand.
" Having the gift of tongues, he could speak any
"language without the trouble of learning it. On
" many occasions he raised the dead, and in one
" instance he opened a grave and restored to life and
" perfect health a corpse which was in an advanced
"stage of decomposition. In some cases, where he
"failed to interest the natives with his preaching, the
"fish came up out of the sea and sat about on the
"stones listening to his sermon, as an example to
" the natives. An excellent wood-cut illustrates this

252 MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

" remarkable fish story. There are also illustrations
"showing an interview that this saint had with the
" Devil, and another where he is receiving a string of
"beads from the Virgin Mary. Both likenesses are
" supposed to be good.

"St. Francis, being the first and greatest of all
"missionaries, seems to have set the pace, and all
" missionaries since his time appear to have followed
"in his footsteps" (pp. 60-61).

" The late Sir William Des Voeux was for a long
" time Governor of Hong-Kong. On his return he
"told me that the missionary propaganda in China
"was a total failure from beginning to end. On one
" occasion the head of the largest Protestant Mission,
" being ordered home, called upon the Governor. He
"said he had been in China twenty years, had worked
"hard, and had done his very best ; he had left no
"stone unturned, and still he did not believe he had
"made a single honest convert.

" The Russian Church has long had a representa-
"tive at Pekin. Some years ago, in discussing the
"missionary question in China, he said: 'I have
" ' been in Pekin twenty-five years. It is quite
" ' possible I have made one convert in that time,
" ' but I am not sure of him. If anyone tells you he
"'has made more than one convert in twenty-five
" 'years, don't you believe him.'

"Colonel Carr, who was at one time attached to
"the American Legation in China, speaking of the
" missionary propaganda, pronounced the whole thing
" to be a fraud of the first water. He said : ' The
" ' Chinese have more than one excellent religion of
" ' their own. They have no use for any new variety
"'that we have to offer them.' On his return to
"America he read the missionary reports, and was

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 253

"astonished beyond measure. He wound up by
"saying: ' The American missionaries in China are
" ' the greatest liars on the face of the earth.'

"I asked Li Hung Chang on one occasion if he had
" ever known an honest Chinaman to become a convert
" to Christianity. He said : ' No, never ; not one.'

" Much of the foregoing is fully confirmed by
" recently written works regarding China and the
" Far East.

" The Chinese were a party to the first Hague Peace
" Convention ; and it was certainly understood at the
" time that all nations that agreed to the terms of that
"convention would abide by, and be subject to, the
" same treatment in the case of war. Let us see now
" what happened. Some German missionaries pene-
" trated into a part of China where the people were
" both ignorant and religious. They attacked the
" national faith, and the Chinese retaliated, just
"exactly as people would have done in any other
" country, not excepting Germany itself. There was
" a fight, and two missionaries were killed. This led
" to rioting in Pekin. The German Ambassador took
"an active part in the street fighting for several days,
"and was finally killed. This was a signal for the
"leading Christian nations to make war on China.
" Unfortunately, the Japanese joined in the crusade.
" This war was conducted against an innocent people
" in a most atrocious manner. Not one of the con-
" ditions of the Hague Convention was observed.
" There is not an instance in history where the worst
" barbarians have treated a people with such heartless
" cruelty. The so-called laws of war were disregarded
" in every particular — murder, rapine, and robbery
" everywhere. Thousands of Chinese ladies com-
" mitted suicide to avoid the barbarous Christian

254 MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

"soldiers — in fact, there is nothing in history that
"will at all compare in wickedness with this crusade
" against the innocent Chinese. Neither sex, age, nor
" private property was respected. At the sacking of
" Pekin the palaces of the Emperor and of all the
" wealthy people were ransacked and looted, and nearly
" every missionary establishment in Pekin became a
"store-house for stolen property. The missionaries
"themselves took an active part in robbing the rich;
"and many beautiful, elegant things that they stole
" were afterwards offered for sale in London, Paris,
" and New York. China was forced to pay a large
" indemnity for being robbed, each nation having a
" share of the spoils ; but when the Americans appre-
"ciated the true state of affairs they became disgusted
"and ashamed of themselves, and refused to be a
" party to the robbery " (pp. 62-64).

In concluding this section on the missionaries, it
will be interesting to add the opinion of a learned and
able Chinaman. In the Daily Mail for September 22,
1900, there appeared an article by Mr. Ralph which
purported to give " a faint idea of the task before the
missionaries." It was full of the customary narrow-
minded strictures on the popular superstitions of the
Chinese, as if these gave a rounded view of the whole
of China. The secretary to the Chinese Minister,
Mr. Ivan Chen, wrote a reply to this letter, and,
although the editor of the Daily Mail remarked that
he " did not like the tone or the matter of this article,"
and that " it contains many unnecessary sneers at
Christianity," nevertheless he published it. The
letter ran as follows : —

" In your issue of the 14th instant was printed an
" article by Julian Ralph entitled ' All the Trouble in
"'China.'

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 255

" Mr. Ralph's article is devoted to what he calls the
" ignorance and superstition of the Chinese as a nation.
" He speaks of ' a little breastwork of cement two or
" ' three feet long, and three or four inches high, with
" ' beer bottles stuck in it, muzzle outward,' as 'being
" ' all that is required '; and of other devices that are
" thought by him to be used for keeping away devils,
" spirits, etc. After speaking of the evident stupidity
" of such devils and spirits, he says : ' The devils
" ' come blowing along, and are just about to alight
" ' on the roof, when they see one of these mock forts.
" He further speaks of ' a little brick structure ' erected
"in front of our doors, which is also efficacious in
" ' keeping away demons, etc'

" Admitting all this to be true, what does it all
"amount to?

"There are in China many ignorant people. That
"goes without saying. But is not the same true of
" every country in the world ?

" China has a population (according to Eugene
"Simon, one of the most truthful writers you have)
" of over 500,000,000 of people — or, say, nine times
"as many as the United States of America. It is
" said that the Americans spend annually 200,000,000
" dollars for propitiating their gods and devils. I do
" not hesitate to say that the Chinese are able to do
" the same thing just as effectively, for a very much
" larger population, at less than half this sum. Many
"of the Roman Catholic cathedrals that one finds
"in Europe and America cost at least ;^i, 000,000
"sterling. None of them are more effective in
" warding off devils than the simple little ' fort '
" that the Chinaman is said to build on the top
" of his house, which is only ' three feet long and
" ' three or four inches high.'

2S6 MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

"The inexpensive 'beer bottles' are just as good
' for keeping off devils as the largest bells ever
'erected in any tower. If anyone has any doubt
'of this, we Chinamen would ask for a competitive
'trial, with plenty of Chinamen to back the 'beer
' ' bottles ' against the bells.

"Then, again, as to the pile of bricks of exceed-
' ingly modest dimensions. This has been found to
' be quite effective. The various other little devices
'which some of the ignorant and superstitious China-
'men employ will be found quite as effective as the
' more elaborate, and certainly more costly, para-
' phernalia used in Europe and America for the same
' purpose.

" Much sport has been made in England and
'America of the Chinese praying -machines that
' one finds in Tibet. Many years ago it was dis-
' covered that if one wrote his prayer, and placed it
'in a tea-cup, and gave it one turn, it was just as
' good as repeating the prayer orally. Ten turns
' were equal to ten prayers. This was also found to
' be true, no matter to what extent the apparatus was
' increased in size, or the number of prayers added to
' it ; so at the present time they put 1,000,000 prayers
'written on thin paper in a large vessel mounted on
'a pivot. On giving the vessel one turn, it registers
' 1,000,000 prayers, each of which is just as effective
' as any other prayer.

" If anyone doubts this, we challenge them to a
'competition.

" If your missionaries can show us any devices in
'Europe which are more efficacious in keeping off
' devils, or cheaper or more expedient in propitiating
' deities by prayers, than those that exist among our
' ignorant people to-day, then, and not till then, will

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 257

" it be time for you to send your missionaries, and the
" superstitions which you doubtless think are new, to
" China.

"All our superstitious practices are among the
"Taoists and the Buddhists. The learned, the
" literary, and the oflEicial classes are all Confucians,
" and Confucius has taught us to respect our ancestors
" and leave the gods alone. Confucius teaches us to
" have nothing whatsoever to do with anyone who
" pretends to have any intercourse with the super-
" natural. We do not believe in any of the angels
"and demons which are so common to all other
" systems ; and it has often been said of us that,
" because we do not believe in these supernatural
" beings, our system is not a religion at all. When
"the first Jesuit missionaries went to China, they did
" not attempt to meddle with the institutions of our
"country. They taught mathematics, astronomy,
" and other philosophical subjects. They were well
" received, and made themselves very popular with
"our Emperor. But as soon as they commenced to
"attack the institutions of the country, they were
" ordered to quit.

" What we require in China is scientific men — men
" educated in some of the concrete sciences that we do
" not understand ourselves to the same extent that
" they are understood in England. We do not object
" to your doctors. We admire their skill. We do
" not object to your engineers. Neither do we object
"to any of your scientific men, so long as they do not
" interfere with our existing institutions. The whole
" cause of the present trouble in China is because we
" have among us an ignorant and superstitious class
" of people — Buddhists — who have a religion almost
" identical with the Christian religion, and who are

s

2s8 MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION

'very jealous of others who are bringing in what they
'consider a competing faith. They feel exactly the
'same as people would in this country if the
' Buddhists should come over here and attempt to
' supplant the Catholics and Protestants. But what
'exasperates us Chinese more than anything else is
'the immunity which the so-called converts have
' from the action of the law in their own country.

" Suppose a Chinese priest should come to England,
'and it should be known that every burglar, pick-
' pocket, and thief, by becoming a Buddhist, would
' become exempt from arrest by the police. Suppose
'that the introduction of a new faith into England,
' should give the criminal classes license to ply their
'trade in London, with complete immunity from the
' action of the laws. Would the English people
'submit to such a state of affairs? And what is true
'of the English is true of all other nations. Why,
'then, should we Chinese be an exception to the rule?
' Our civilisation is the oldest in the world ; it enables
' more men to live on a square mile of ground in
' comfort than any other civilisation ever evolved.
' Before the missionaries visited our country, there
' was much less crime in proportion to the population
' than even in Protestant Prussia, which is regarded
'as the most moral of European countries.

" Our kind of civilisation may differ from that of
' Europe, but it suits us better. We do not care to
'throw it over unless something better can be
' produced, something really better when viewed
'from our own standpoint. Certainly our religious
'beliefs are quite as reasonable and respectable as
'those of other nations, and if age should be con-
'sidered as one of the factors of respectability our
' systems must be infinitely more respectable than the

MISSIONARY PRESUMPTION 259

" new faiths, some of which are only about 300 or 400
" years old.

" Is there any reason why the Chinese should not
" be allowed to enjoy their own religion in their own
"country in their own way? Confucius taught that
" we should do to others as we would have them do
"unto us, and I believe this has been introduced into
"the Christian religion, and is generally known as
"'the Golden Rule.' Certainly, the English would
" not like to have us interfere with any of their many
" religions or institutions. They would not like to
" have us send our Taoist or Buddhist pi-iests to this
"country to attack the modern faiths of the English
" people. If we should force our priests upon England,
" we should be doing to the English what we would
" not like them to do unto us. Conversely, the English,
" in forcing their priests upon us, are doing unto us
" what they would not like to have others do unto
"them. Consequently they are not only breaking
" one of the fundamental principles of their own faith,
" but of our faith also.

"It will be quite impossible to have peace in China so
" long as foreign missionaries are allowed to interfere
" with the institutions of the country, and no Govern-
" ment at Pekin can be strong enough to protect un-
" popular missionaries throughout so vast an empire.
" We may not be able to keep these missionaries
" out of China, because we are not a fighting nation.
"Anything will be better than the missionaries.

" Peace, prosperity, and healthy commerce will be
" impossible until the missionary shall have been
"eliminated from our local problem. Recall the
"missionaries, and all will go well.

"Ivan Chen."
"49 Portland Place."

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

In spite of all their bullying and trickery, the
Christian missionaries in China make no perceptible
progress, and this notwithstanding the enormous
sums of money that have been lavished on their work.
The educated classes and the great mass of decent
people are hostile, and look upon the missionaries and
their work with contempt. The boast that is made in
Europe of the large number of converts is hollow and
insincere, and, moreover, the character of the converts
is contemptible in the extreme, as we have seen from
previous extracts. That the missions are, broadly
speaking, a miserable failure will be amply proved by
the following extracts from authoritative writers.

In his well-known work, The Far East, Mr. Henry
Norman says : —

" ' As for any moral influence that foreigners may
" ' exercise by their presence in the country, it may be
" ' regarded as simply nil.' I believe this to be abso-
" lutely true. The reader may naturally be inclined
" to reply that, in the face of many years of devoted
" missionary work and the large sums of money that
"are yearly subscribed in England to support this,
" such a statement is incredible. My answer is, that
" from the missionaries themselves come some of the
"strongest testimonies in support of the assertion of
" declining foreign influence. I once asked a Roman
" Catholic priest whom I met in China, and of whose
" knowledge and character I formed the highest
" opinion, if he believed that the result of missionary

260

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 261

"enterprise would result, even in the fullness of time,
" in anything that could be remotely described as the
" Christianising of China. ' Jamais ! ' he replied,
" emphatically.

"The Rev. William Ashmore, D.D., of the
" American Baptist Mission, in an article in the
"New York Examiner, wrote as follows: 'Already
" ' the revulsion from the old, kindly feeling towards
" ' America has begun. Now they are learning to
" ' hate us. It is passing from mouth to mouth, from
" ' village to village, from province to province, from
" ' ruler to ruler, from prince to prince, from beggar
" ' to beggar, until we can contemplate the possibility
" ' of an epidemic of ill-will extending over a fourth
" ' part of the whole human race ' " (pp. 281-82).

" In any consideration of the relation of Chinese
" and foreigners the much-vexed missionary question
"cannot be passed over. Lhold very strong opinions
"about this, but I will express them as briefly and
" as moderately as I can. I believe it to be strictly
" within the limits of truth to say that foreign
" missionary effort in China has been productive of
"far more harm than good. Instead of serving as a
" link between Chinese and foreigners, the missionaries
" have formed a growing obstacle. As travellers in
" the East well know. Oriental peoples are especially
" susceptible upon two points, of which their religion
" is the chief. We have forced the inculcation of an
"alien and a detested creed upon the Chinese, literally
" at the point of the bayonet " (p. 304).

" Protestant missionary tracts are distributed bear-
" ing coarse illustrations of such Biblical incidents as
"the swallowing of Jonah by the whale and the
" killing of Sisera by Jael. Moreover, up to the
"present, the Protestant missionaries have circulated

262 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

" the whole Bible in Chinese. They have recently
"seen their error, and are now considering the
"advisability of following in the steps of the more
"circumspect Roman Catholics, and withholding
"certain parts obviously unfit for Oriental compre-
"hension.^ Their failure to do this hitherto has
" resulted in parodies of the most vital doctrines of
" orthodox Protestantism being spread all over China,
"of a brutality so revolting and ferocious as to be
" beyond all possibility of mention." Again, they
" reproduce in China all the petty sectarian divisions
"of their own country. I quote a list of these from
" a missionary address. There are three branches of
" the Episcopal Church, nine sects of Presbyterians,
" six sects of Methodists, two sects of Congregation-
"alists, two sects of Baptists, besides several minor
" bodies. In Shanghai alone there are seven missions
" — the London Mission, American Presbyterian, the
" American Episcopal, the American Episcopal
" Methodists, the Church Missionary Society, the
" American Baptists, and the Seventh-Day Baptists.
"'Here, then,' says the Rev, Dr. Williamson, 'we
" ' have seven sets of foreign missionaries working
" ' seven different churches ; seven sermons every
" ' Sunday, seven sets of prayer meetings, seven sets
" 'of communing services, seven sets of schools, two
" ' training agencies, seven sets of buildings, seven
" ' sets of expenses, four or five versions of the Bible,
" 'and seven different hymn-books at least.'^ In the

" In China we have the sickening spectacle of Protestants distri-
buting Bibles, to be followed by Roman Catholics who collect and
burn them.— H. S. M.

' It is impossible to conceive of any language more revolting than
that to be found in the English Bible.— H. S. M.

3 He might have added seven sets of fools that would rank in the
third order of fools — that is, with " expert witnesses." — H. S. M.

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 263

" face of these facts one is surely justified in saying
" that we have not yet reached a point of Christian
" unity which affords us any moral justification for
"thrusting our theological views by force of arms
" upon heathen nations " (pp. 306-07).

"The Chinese themselves bracket missionaries and
"opium together as the twin curses of the country"

(P- 307).

"Conversion to Christianity is looked upon by
" many natives merely as a means of an easier liveli-
" hood. A friend of mine asked a Chinese servant
"whom he had previously known what he was
"engaged in doing. He replied, 'My have got that
"'Jesus pidgin.' He was no more intentionally
" irreverent in saying this than I am in quoting it ;
" he merely meant that the profession of Christianity,
"with its comfortable concomitants, was his new
" occupation " (p. 307).

Mr. Arthur Diosy is a well-known authority and
impartial writer on Eastern questions. In his New
Far East (1900) he remarks as follows : —

" The prime cause is to be found in the lamentable
" rivalry existing between the three great branches of
" Christianity, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and
" Protestant, and between the denominations, too
" numerous to mention, into which Protestantism is
"split up. Hence a frittering of resources, an over-
" lapping of spheres of activity, and — worse still — a
" pernicious effect on the minds of those whose con-
" version is to be attempted. Those who do not scoff
" at the sorry spectacle of the dissensions between the
" missionaries of the different denominations, each
" recommending his own way as the only safe road
" to salvation — dissensions fortunately now less violent
" than in the past — are bewildered by the multiplicity

264 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

" of spiritual guides. On several occasions, when I
"have asked some highly-educated Oriental, trained
" in Western knowledge, and, apparently, in every
" respect capable of seeing eye to eye with Occi-
" dentals, why he did not embrace Christianity, he
"has answered: ^What sort of Christianity?' And
" there has been an ironical tone in the apparently
"innocent words " (pp. 217-18).

"The Chinese authorities are continually complain-
" ing that every mission-house becomes a veritable
" Alsatia for all the vagrom men and shiftless fellows
"of the neighbourhood. This complaint is exag-
" gerated, no doubt ; but there is a substratum of
"truth. In short, Christianity in China is not
"'fashionable'; it is not even considered ' respect-
" 'able,' and that is a grave drawback to its success
"with a nation that prizes respectability — 'face,' as it
" calls it — above all things. I will not dwell on the
"actual mischief wrought by the excessive zeal, or
"the narrowness of mind, of some few missionaries ;
" by the imperfect linguistic knowledge of others,
" leading to absurd and irreverent expressions used,
"by the misplacing of an intonation, where solemn
"words were intended; by the insufficient acquaint-
"ance of novices with Chinese manners, customs, and
" thought ; and, lastly, by the dictatorial interference
" of missionary societies and boards at home, totally
" ignorant of Chinese conditions. These faults have
" caused the loss of many lives ; they have brought
" ' the inevitable gunboat ' into play, and have caused
" millions of Chinese to look upon Christianity
"and Western civilisation with scorn and loathing"
(p. 223).

In his Through the Yang Tse Gorges Mr. Archibald J.

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 265

Little, a high authority on China, speaks candidly of
the failure of the missionaries : —

" I cannot but agree with Pere Armand David, who
" doubts if China will ever be Christianised, especially
" now that innumerable different sects of Protestantism
"from Europe and America have entered the field,
"and rendered confusion worse confounded to the
" naturally sceptical Chinese mind. The Catholic
"and Protestant sects are looked upon by the Chinese
"as different religions, and the contempt entertained
" for missions is aggravated by the unfortunate dis-
" agreement as to the translation of the word ' God ' "

(P- 155)-

" It is one thing to convert African savages or
" Polynesian fetish worshippers, and another thing to
"spend millions of money in attempting to convert
" Chinese who possess an ancient and admirable
" system of ethics of their own " (p. 156).

" Their converts are as yet but few ; but these

" earnest missionaries are, as they say, satisfied to
" sow the seed, and leave the harvest to a Higher
" Power.' It must be disheartening work thus trying
" to convert the very poor, whose motives in changing
"their religion can never be trusted ; while, as a rule,
" the upper classes in China disdain all intercourse
"with them " (p. 158).

"Catholicism is stationary, and exists mainly
"through the prestige of its age and its extensive
" possessions. The entrance of Protestantism into
" China, with its inquiring and disputatious spirit, is
" proving fatal to the ingathering of the harvest anti-

' Many of them pretend to believe that the Holy Ghost will inter-
fere and assist the missionaries in their efforts ; but it is quite safe to
assert that neither the Holy Ghost nor any other ghost will interfere.
— H. S. M.

266 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

"cipated by devout Catholics as the result of two
" centuries of toil in this ungrateful land. As in the
" West, the door once opened to doubt, dogmatic
"Christianity seems doomed" (p. 172).

From Mr. Little's later work, Gleanings from Fifty
Years in China, I quote the following : —

" Thus one may say that the traveller in the Celestial
" Empire was, until within the last decade of the nine-
" teenth century, not exposed to any serious danger,
"and that, with trade steadily increasing, intercourse
"between Europeans and Chinese gave promise of
"developing into friendship, as much as there can
"ever be between people of such different habits,
"customs, and beliefs. Whence, then, the change
" that since 1890 has come over the spirit of the scene?
" Let us study for once the Chinese view of the
"question.

" The officials have no hesitation in saying that one
" chief cause, but not the sole cause, of the spread
" of ill-feeling towards ' foreigners ' is the sudden
"and enormous increase in missionary activity that
" developed in the 'eighties, and produced the numerous
"riots in the Yangtse Valley in the early 'nineties.
" They lament the fact that these riots cost them heavy
"indemnities, although a settlement was effected and
" quiet was restored with little disturbance to trade,
" which went on increasing by leaps and bounds.
" But the influx of missionaries continued, and, as
"trade increased, so did missionary establishments;
"and unfortunately it must be said, without any re-
" flection upon missionaries personally, these were
"carried on in a trading spirit. That is to say, that
" the innumerable societies from England and America
"and the Continent of Europe compete with one
"another as to who shall show the most business, and

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 267

" be able to report home the best resuUs. This great
" influx of missionaries, thrust suddenly into almost
"every city of the vast empire by the Protestant
"societies, has not only disturbed the minds of the
"people, leading them to believe that some great
" political move was imminent, but has also stimulated
"the Catholic missions, who already held the field,
" to greater activity. Not a town of any importance
" throughout the vast province of Szechuan that has
" not now its competing Protestant and Catholic
" missions.

"The French Minister demanded, and obtained,
"from the weak central Government official rank for
" the priests of an alien and detested religion — detested
" because it is a religion that subverts the whole
" Chinese social system and government " (pp. 290-
91).

" Well-meaning people at home subscribe millions
"and employ colporteurs to spread translations of the
" Old Testament broadcast throughout the Empire,
"and virtually say to the Chinese: 'These are our
" 'ethics.' The result is that the Chinese take us at
" our word, and say : ' This accounts for the fierce
" ' conduct of foreign nations towards us ever since
" ' we have permitted intercourse with them. More
" 'are coming into the land every day. How can we
"'keep them out? Unlike ourselves, they rely on
" ' force for their arguments, and not on reason ' "
{Ibid., p. 292).

" When remonstrated with for the harm they are

'doing, the missionaries say: ' We have our

' ' marching orders, and these we obey without ques-
' ' tioning. Whatever may be your views as to the
' ' political expediency of our efforts, whether you be
' ' convinced or not that our creed is literally true —

268 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

" ' and not only this, but that it is the only true creed,
" * we, as apostles of Christ, have to act as the
" ' apostles of old did, and spread our religion by
" ' every means in our power, regardless of conse-
" 'quences.' But to this argument the Chinese may
" well answer : ' Our sacred Ancestor, Pope, and
" ' Emperor, Kang-hi, in the last century issued an
" ' edict, known as " The Sacred Edict," and which is
" ' read to the people in all the Confucian temples
" ' throughout the Empire twice a month, ordering
" ' the people to reverence the sage Confucius, and
" ' not to be led away by strange doctrines, including
" ' Christianity.' Thus the Chinese have equally their
" divine orders, which conflict diametrically with the
" divine orders of the missionary ; and, without more
"goodwill and true Christian feeling on both sides
" than appears to be compatible with religious contro-
"versy in all ages, unrest, revolution, and war are the
"necessary result " {Ibid., p. 293).

Mr. Giles says, in his Chinese Sketches : —
" From time to time a few scientific treatises are
" translated by ambitious members of the missionary
" body ; but such only tend to swell the pastor's fame
"among his own immediate flock; they do not
"advance civilisation one single step. The very fact
" of their emanating from a missionary would of itself
" be enough to deter the better class of Chinese from
" purchasing, or even accepting them as a gift "
(pp. 29-30).

"Superstition is China's worst enemy — a shadow
" which only the pure light of science will be
"able to dispel. There are many among us who
" would give her more ; but they will not succeed "
(p. 98).

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 269

The French writer Mr. Eugene Simon, after ten
years' travel in China, says : —

" The missionaries themselves admit that, if a body
" of Christians were left to themselves for two years
" without a visit, at the end of the period not a single
" Christian would be found.

" Even the Chinese priests, recruited with difficulty
"as they are, cannot be left to themselves" (p. 70).

" I have asked learned Chinese with whom I was
" well acquainted what they thought of us, receiving
" the reply : ' You do not cultivate your soul ' "
(p. 72).

I conclude with extracts from a large number of
writers, of all schools, who confirm the conclusion of
these well-known authorities : —

" A few Catholic missionaries still make converts of
" the lowest and poorest Chinese, who occasionally
" appear at the churches and receive each of them a
" small donation of rice, for which reason they are
" sometimes called, in Portuguese, ' rice Christians ' "
(J. F. Davis, The Chinese, p. 223).

The following is from the pen of an earnest mis-
sionary, with more zeal than judgment : —

" And now, after all, is there any ground for the
"cavil that mission work in China, the Cheh-Kiang
" Mission in particular, exhibits the picture of
" lamentable failure and sheer waste of money and
" toil ? Thank God, there are other missions at work
"in the province beside the Church Missionary
" Society : three English — the Baptist, the China
" Inland, and the United Methodist Free Church
" Missions ; and three American — the Baptist and
" the Northern and Southern Presbyterian Missions.
" Yet, all told, the converts scarcely number 2,000 —

270 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

" or not so much as one in every 10,000 of the
"population. Is this failure? Shall the useless
" enterprise be abandoned ? God forbid ! The very
" thought is treasonable to the Christian faith " '
(Archdeacon Moule, The Story of the Cheh-Kiang
Mission, pp. 150-51).

We hear much of the success of medical missions.
That these missions are successful just in the degree
that they are medical is amply proved by the follow-
ing extract from a careful observer on the spot : —

"Thus far they had at all events preserved a
"semblance of attention, but at last nature asserts
" herself, and the undisguised sighings and naive
" yawnings are impressively portentous. Then empty
" medicine bottles and cups are held up to the light,
"and say as plainly as spoken words : ' About time
" ' to finish your harangue. Let us get on to the
" 'salves, the potions, and the boluses.' At the con-
" elusion of service the patients flock into the surgery
" for treatment " (Major H, Knollys, English Life in
China, p. 180).

" Yes ; I take indignant exception to the published
"glowing accounts of results and success, backed up
" by statistics so fallacious that they only just escape
" the stigma of being garbled. Indeed, I have
"before me at this moment a flaming report on
" China missions — would that I might particularise its
"title! — the statements wherein have been concocted
" either by a knave or a fool, so grossly false are
"they. A case came within my knowledge where
" one of two missionaries who had been journeying

' While one pretended convert to Christianity is made in China, a
thousand so-called Christians in Europe and America abandon their
faith and become practically Confucians without knowing it. —
H. S. M.

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 271

"together furnished a discouraging report. The
"head of the mission, remonstrating, declined to
"forward it, and urged him to re-write it in the
"spirit of his coadjutor, who had expressed himself
" to the following effect : —

" ' One Sunday afternoon we landed at , and

" ' in a very short time the poor natives came crowd-
" ' ing round us, thirsting to hear the Word of God.' ^

" The reply was : ' I was present at that moment
" ' with my coadjutor, and I assert that his statement
" ' is not true in the sense he implies. We landed
" ' on a Sunday, and the inhabitants mobbed us ; but
" ' the remarks of the inquisitive rabble were : " Look
" ' " at those foreign devils, how oddly they are
" ' " dressed ; and what enormous noses they have ! " '"
{Ihid., pp. 184-85).

" ' Are the Roman Catholic missions friendly to
" ' you ? '

" ' Fairly so, except the Spanish, whose hatred of
" ' Protestants is unbounded. It is necessary to be
" ' very suspicious of Roman Catholic statistics.
" ' Their sole object seems to be to obtain consent to
" ' baptism. That effected, they have done with the
"'individual, who simply goes to swell the number
" ' of converts, many of whom are ignorant of their
" ' most elementary tenets. This very morning I
" ' asked a Roman Catholic convert. Who was Jesus
" ' Christ ? Not only was he unable to answer, but
" * he was totally ignorant of the Virgin Mary ' "
{Ibid., p. 189).

" During my travels I carefully inspected about
"twelve of the most venerated Buddhist temples,

' The Chinese riverside labourers are seeking the word of God
just as much as our riverside labourers are seeking the word of Joss,
and no more. — H. S. M.

272 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

"some of them, indeed, of China-wide celebrity. In
" every single instance without exception their resem-
"blance internally to Roman Catholic places of
"worship was most striking. In many cases a couple
"of hours' labour in transformation, and the likeness
"would have been complete. There is the same
" interior architectural decoration, the same gilding
"and sombre lights, the same richly embroidered
"altar cloths and draperies, the same guardianship
" of relics, and the same highly beautiful raised
" shrines with burning tapers, flowers, and clouds of
"incense. Even the postures and genuflections are
" not dissimilar. Remove those monstrosities repre-
"senting Buddha and his wives, and those miniature
"devils representing the Chinaman's ' number two
" ' chancey,' or alternative to a deaf god, affix a few
"crosses, distribute a few prie-dieii, introduce a pot
" of holy water, and, as I have said before, in the
"shortest possible space of time the temple will be
" converted into a gorgeous counterpart of a Roman
" Catholic place of worship " {Ibid., p. 202).

" At Pekin one of our missionaries employed as a
" teacher a native Christian of whose sincerity he had
" had, as he believed, seven years' experience. At
" the end of that period it was discovered that the
"convert at the conclusion of evening service had
" been wont habitually to open the chapel as a
" gambling house. On another occasion, as I learned,
"a party of English sportsmen came across an
" English missionary who offered to conduct them to
"some good shooting ground. As their intimacy
" increased he told them his story. With a self-
" devotion rare among Protestants he had buried
" himself in the midst of a rural population, and yet,
"after three years of unremitting toil, he had come

Interior of a Chinese Buddhist Temple—
The Buddhist Trinity.

Degenerate Buddhism has a very strong resemblance
to Roinan Catholicism. It is indeed a poor religion
that cannot afford at least three Gods. Christianity
has three principal Gods and over two thousand devils,
while Buddhism manages to scrimp along with only
about a dozen devils ; still, the Buddhists strongly
object to our missionaries increasing the nuinber.

To face p, 272,.

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 273

" to the conclusion that during that time he had not
" made one single honest convert" {Ibid., pp. 208-09).

" I would point out another grave drawback accom-
" panying a low type of missionaries, with a good
" deal of ' land ' on their own hands, and with a
" deficiency of clean linen and h's. They are outside
"the pale of that powerful European interest, the
" resident merchants or their agents, most of whom
" possess the externals of gentlemen, while all recog-
" nise one when they see him. The missionaries are
" never by any chance met at their homes in a social
"capacity" {Ibid., pp. 212-13).

V, "You may dine out as often as you please. Of
" course you meet the same guests over and over
"again. You will find them exclusively composed of
"men — clear-headed in action, and energetic both in
" business and pleasure. Their conversation is apt to
"drift unduly into trade and dollars, but they are
" liberality personified. Their gambling is consider-
"able both in cards and racing; their immorality in
" many cases more than considerable ; and it would
" be well if that homage which vice pays to virtue,
"sometimes falsely termed hypocrisy, were exercised
"to throw a cloak over their dealings with Chinese
" women which at home would cause the transgressors
"to be rigidly relegated to Coventry" {Ibid., p. 281).

Again I quote from a missionary : —

" It is deeply to be lamented that the doctrine of
" transubstantiation should have been carried to China.
" To the people there it suggests that Christians are
"cannibals; and they see in the numerous orphan-
"ages, which Roman Catholic piety has established
"throughout the land, only the means of supplying
"the Lord's Table with the revolting meal. Such
" awful misconceptions render the work of the

T

274 FAILURE OF tHE MISSIONARIES

" Christian Church in securing foothold there im-
"mensely difficult " (Rev. T. H. Morris, A Winter
in North China, p. 8).

" China needs the Gospel. The door of this great
"empire, long closed against us, has, in God's
" providence, been thrown wide open ; and the ques-
"tion which is pressing upon us and waiting for our
" reply is, Are we ready to go in and take possession
"of the land' in Christ's name?" {Ibid., p. 255).

Compare this with the following, and compute the
cost : —

"During the time I was in China I met large
" numbers of missionaries of all classes, in many cities
"from Pekin to Canton, and they unanimously ex-
" pressed satisfaction at the progress they are making
" in China. Expressed succinctly, their harvest may
"be described as amounting to a fraction more than
" two Chinamen per missionary per annum. If, how-
" ever, the paid ordained and unordained native helpers
" be added to the number of missionaries, you find
"that the aggregate body converts nine-tenths of a
" Chinaman per worker per annum ; but the mission-
" aries deprecate their work being judged by statistics.
"There are 1,511 Protestant missionaries labouring
" in the empire ; and, estimating their results from
" the statistics of previous years as published in the
" Chinese Recorder, we find that they gathered last
"year (1893) into the fold 3,127 Chinese — not all of
" whom, it is feared, are genuine Christians — at a
" cost of ;^35o,ooo — a sum equal to the combined

' This missionary g'ives the show away completely. He admits
that it is the land they are after ; but the Chinese object — and it is to
be hoped that they will object successfully. However, it is much
easier to deprive the Chinaman of his land than it is to save his
problematical soul. — H. S. M.

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 275

"incomes of the ten chief London hospitals'" (G. E.
Morrison, An Australian in China, p. 5).

"The Chinese 'rice Christians' — those spurious
"Christians who become converted in return for being
"provided with rice — are just those who profit by
"these differences of opinion, and who, with timely
" lapses from grace, are said to succeed in being con-
" verted in turn by all the missions, from the Augustins
"to the Quakers " {Ibid., p. 6).

" I remember reading in the Sydney Bulletin that
"a Chinese cook in Sydney, when applying for a
"situation, detailed to the mistress his undeniable
"qualifications, concluding with the memorable
"announcement, 'My Clistian man, mum; my eat
"beef; my say goddam ' " {Ibid., p. 18).

"When a Chinaman becomes a Christian, he
" expects to live by his Christianity " {Ibid., p. 28).

"Fourteen American missionaries were lately im-
" ported into Suifu in one shipment. Most of them
" are from Chicago. One of their earliest efforts will
"be to translate into Chinese Mr. Stead's If Christ
" Came to Chicago, in order the better to demonstrate
"to the Chinese the lofty standard of morality, virtue,
" probity, and honour attained by the Christian com-
" munity that sent them to China to enlighten the
" poor, benighted heathen in this land of darkness "
{Ibid., p. 64).

" Look, for example, at the difficulty there is in
" telling a Chinese, who has been taught to regard
"the love of his parents as his chief duty, as his
" forefathers have been taught for hundreds of genera-

' There is no question that, if Chinese priests should come to
London and were able to offer the same advantag'es that our mission-
aries offer to converts in China, they would be completely over-
whelmed with converts at 20s. a head. — H. S. M.

276 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

" tions before him — the difficulty there is in explaining
"to him, in his own language, the words of Christ,
" ' If any man come to Me and hate not his father,
" ' he cannot be My disciple. For I am come to set
" 'a man at variance against his father.'

"In the patriarchal system of government which
" prevails in China, the most awful crime that a son
"can commit is to kill his parent, either father or
" mother. And this is said to be, though the des-
"cription is no doubt abundantly exaggerated, the
" punishment of his crime. He is put to death by the
" * ling-chi,' or ' degrading and slow process,' and his
" younger brothers are beheaded ; his house is razed
" to the ground, and the earth under it dug up several
"feet deep; his neighbours are severely punished;
" his principal teacher is decapitated ; the district
" magistrate deprived of his office, and the higher
" officials of the province degraded three degrees in
" rank.

" Such is the enormity of the crime of parricide in
" China ; yet it is to the Chinese who approves of the
"severity of this punishment that the missionary has
" to preach, ' And the children shall rise up against
" ' their parents and cause them to be put to death ' " '
(Jbid., p. 69).

" Six months after their arrival they write to China's
" Millions : ' Now for the news ! Glorious news this
" * time ! Our services crowded ! Such bright, intelli-
" ' gent faces ! So eager to hear the good news !
" ' They seemed to drink in every word, and to listen
"' as if they were afraid that a word might be lost.'

• Although the Protestants claim to have translated the whole
Bible into Chinese, it is very questionable as to whether they have
given a true translation. I know in some laneuaeres they have not,
— H. S. M.

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 277

" Five years later they write: 'The first convert in Siao
" ' Wong Mino was a young man named Sengleping,
" * a matseller. He was very earnest in his efforts to
" 'spread the Gospel, but about the beginning of the
" ' year he became insane. The poor man lost his
" ' reason, but not his piety ' {China's Millions, IV, 5,
"95, and 143)" {Ibid., pp. 70-71).

"Talk to the Chinese of religion, of a God, of
" heaven or hell, and they yawn ; speak to them of
" business, and they are all attention " {Ibid., p. 105).

" Yet we, as Protestants, are warned by a great
" missionary that we must not be deluded by these
" insidious compliments ; we must not forget that the
" work of the Jesuits in China ' overtops all other
" ' forms of superstition and error in danger, and stands
" ' forth an organised conspiracy against the liberties
" ' of mankind. The schemes of the Jesuits must be
" ' checked ' " ' {Ibid., p. 173).

"Mr. X 'finds the people very hard to reach,' he
" told me, and his success has only been relatively
" cheering. After labouring here nearly six years —
"the mission was first opened in 1882— he has no
" male converts, though there are two promising
" nibblers, who are waiting for the first vacancy to
" become adherents. There was a convert, baptised
"before Mr. X came here, a poor manure-coolie, who
" was employed by the mission as an evangelist in a
" small way ; but ' Satan tempted him, he fell from
" ' grace, and had to be expelled for stealing the
"'children's buttons.' It was a sad trial to the
" mission " {Ibid., p. 177).

' The French Government found that the best way to protect them-
selves against " the schemes of the Jesuits " was to expel that order
from their country. Is the French Government willing- that the
Chinese should do likewise ? — H. S. M.

278 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

" And this patriotic utterance of a distinguished
" Englishman the Chinese will quote in unexpected
" support of the memorial.

" 'On the Restriction of Christianity,' addressed to
"the throne of China in 1884 by the High Com-
" missioner Peng Yu-lin, which memorial stated in
"severe language that ^ since the treaties have per-
" ' mitted foreigners from the West to spread their
" ' doctrines the morals of the people have been greatly
" ' injured' " (Ibid., p. 192).

" ' For the Bible and the light of truth,' says Miss
" Guinness, in her charming but hysterical Letters
"from the Far East — a book that has deluded many
" poor girls to China — ' For the Bible and the light of
"'truth the Chinese cry with out-stretched, empty,
"'longing hands' (p. 173). But this allegation
" unhappily conflicts with facts when applied to Tali.

" For the first eleven years the mission laboured
" here without any success whatever ; but now a
"happier time seems coming, and no less than three
" converts have been baptised in the last two years "
{Ibid., pp. 213-14).

" Then the Christian converts are a perpetual
" source of trouble and nuisance. The Roman
"Catholic, and possibly most Protestant — natives
"openly defy the laws of the land by refusing to
"kowtow to the magistrate or any other ofificial.
" Now the kowtow, though degrading from the
"modern European point of view, has ever been the
" oriental method of obeisance. In China it is only a
"sign of respect to higher authority, with the same
"significance as uncovering one's head in the
" presence of a judge in a European court. In the eyes
" of the people it would appear that the Christians
" need not respect the officials, since they may stand

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 279

" face to face and talk to him, while the unconverted
" heathen must crawl like a worm in the dust " (Wen
Ching, The Chinese Crisis from Within, pp. 303-04).
" Whatever foreigners may think or do, the
"Chinese believe they have an inalienable right to
" the possession of land already held by them from
" the remotest ages. They do not question the
" authority of the white men to shut them out of
" America — a colony founded by white men — but they
" urge by parity of reasoning that they therefore have
" absolute right to frame regulations on their own
" soil in respect of foreign residence and entry.
" When foreign nations impose upon them their
" peculiar laws in China, the natives feel the injustice,
" which only their weakness compels them to tolerate.
" It is only natural that the spread of Christianity
"should inevitably clash with the time-honoured
" belief of the Chinese. The doctrine of Feng-shui
" and the worship of ancestors stand in the way of
" Christianity, and the defiant attitude of native Chris-
" tians has been a source of suffering to their relatives
"and of annoyance to their neighbours. In self-
" defence many families feel constrained to join any
" association which endeavours to undo the work of
"the missionaries. Let Europeans imagine a parallel
"case of Buddhist or Confucian missionaries working
" in London or Paris, the Christian Church and all her
" doctrines condemned as the most baneful creations of
" the devil, and all the time-honoured customs of the
" French and English peoples interdicted ! Would
" anyone guarantee that no mob would rise against
"such Mongolian intruders?" {Ibid., pp. 324-25).

" As soon as a man becomes a Christian he really
"ceases to be a Chinaman, from the native point of
" view. He literally becomes an outcast of his own

28o FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

" choice ; and his self-isolation is every bit as complete
"as that of the degraded Hindu, rejected by the stern
"rules of caste in India" {Ibid., p. 325).

" Dr. G. E. Morrison mentions a missionary who,
"after three years' work, had baptised six converts,
"and considered that his labours had been abun-
"dantly blessed. On the question of the destiny of
"the heathen he held views that were as definite as
"they were uncompromising. 'Those Chinese who
" ' have never heard the gospel will be judged by the
" ' Almighty as he thinks fit ; but those Chinese who
" ' have heard the Christian doctrine, and still steel
" ' their hearts against the Holy Ghost, will assuredly
" *■ ^o to hell. There is no help for them; they
" ' can believe, and they won't. Had they believed,
"'their reward would be eternal; they refuse
"'to believe, and their punishment will be eternal.'
" Dr. Morrison adds an appropriate comment :
" ' It was a curious study to observe the equa-
" ' nimity with which this good-natured man con-
" ' templates the work he has done in China, when,
"'to obtain six dubious conversions, he has, on his
" ' own confession, sent some thousands of unoffend-
" 'ing Chinese en enfer bouillir eternellementJ' The
" same writer cites the following observation from the
"pen of the Secretary of the China Inland Mission :
" ' Do we believe that these millions are without hope
" ' in the next world ? We turn the leaves of God's
" ' word in vain, for there we find no hope ; not only
" ' that, but positive words to the contrary. Yes !
" ' we believe it ' " (Lin Shao-Yang, A Chinese Appeal
to Christendom concerning Christian Missions, pp.
155-56).

" Nowadays there are many English and American

A Relierious Picture.

A Christian Aspect of Hell.

According to the doctrines of the Christian Church,
on the day of judgment there will be a resurrection of
all the bodies that have ever lived on the earth, the
doctrine being " The resurrection of the body and life
" everlasting"; and those who did not in life believe in
the Christian plan of salvation will be consigned to
everlasting torments in fire and brimstone. The
illustration shows one of the Christian conceptions of
Hell.

In order to produce pain from burning, it is necessary
that the heat should in some way injure or destroy some
part of the body. If the length of time required to
destroy the body is infinitely great, it shows that the
process of burning must be infinitely slow, and of
course the suffering infinitely small.

To face p. 280.

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 281

" Churches who are keenly anxious to surrender that
"terrible bogey, the Athanasian Creed, one of their
" chief objections to it being its reiterated assertion
" that unbelievers in the incomprehensible dogmas of
" the Church shall ' without doubt perish everlast-
" ' ingly.' Yet only the other day there was held in
" England a meeting of indignant Anglican priests
" and laymen, who not only expressed themselves
" strongly opposed to the suggested deposition of the
" Creed from its place of honour, but emphatically
" asserted their uncompromising belief in its principles
" and their adherence to its tenets. If cultivated
" Englishmen in the twentieth century can honestly
" and without any mental reservations accept the
" teachings of that most extraordinary of ecclesiastical
" documents, it need not surprise us to find that there
" are missionaries in China who adhere to the stupe-
" fying doctrine that an omnipotent and benevolent
" God intends to inflict upon millions of innocent
" men, women, and children a degree of torture which
" in no conceivable circumstances would have been
" sanctioned by any of the most infamous and blood-
" thirsty human monsters that have ever wielded a
" tyrant's sceptre ; and that this terrific punishment
"is to be inflicted by the all-loving Father because
"his miserable victims failed to guess the right
" answer to the inscrutable riddle of the universe.
" We execrate the wickedness of the king in the fairy-
" tale who promised his daughter's hand to the man
" who guessed the royal conundrums successfully,
" and cut off the heads of all the suitors who guessed
" wrongly ; but we are to love fervently and worship
" obsequiously a God who acts with infinitely more
" atrocious wickedness on an infinitely larger scale"
(Ibid., pp. 157-58).

282 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

" We have only to look round us in our own much-
" vaunted civilised home of Europe (in which for this
" purpose I include its intellectual annex America) to
"see how much, despite misunderstandings, we owe
" to the careless, if not generous, toleration of the
" Chinese, upon whom, it must be remembered, we
"have imposed, by force of arms, our so-called reli-
"gious 'rights.' First we have Russia, with her
" Armenians, Jews, Stundists, Old Believers,
"Lutherans, Polish Catholics, etc., etc. This is not
" the place to criticise anything that the Czar may be
" advised to do for the supposed good of his State.
"But, if we put it another way, suppose the 2,500
" missionaries of innumerable Protestant sects now
" in China applied for passports to go about the same
" work in Russia, what would be their reception ?
"How would their rights compare with those they
"enjoy in China? Next we have Russia's ally and
"our own excellent friend, 'most Christian' France.
" What is the position at home of the Jesuits, Missions
" Etrangeres, Lazarists, and other powerful agglo-
" merations at this moment, enjoying as they do
" ' button ' rank on the footing of regularly commis-
"sioned mandarins in China? The anointed ruler of
" Italy is regarded as a pariah by the Vicar of Christ,
" who nevertheless enjoys his efficient protection.
" His Apostolic Majesty of Austro-Hungary is liable
" to excommunication if he visits his royal friend in
" Rome ; and his Most Faithful Majesty of Portugal
" is liable to the same penalty if he visits his kingly
" relative there. His Most Catholic Majesty of Spain
" is presumably in the same predicament. The recent
" action of the Bishop of Barcelona touching Pro-
"testants shows the measure of toleration approved
" in Spain. Prince Bismarck(a term then synonymous

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 283

" with Germany) was quite ready to apply force to
"constrain Rome until he found that he was not
" strong enough to do so effectually. The Sultan of
" Turkey and his kindness to Germany in the Holy
" Land ; the moves of Germany at the last Papal
"election ; the protection of 'Mussulman principles'
" in Morocco ; the seizure of Kiao Chou ; the meeting
"of the bishops and the Emperor at Metz — all these
" and other episodes of a kind furnish an object-
" lesson, and suggest reasons why China is so anxious
"not to be again turned on the flanks by some mys-
" terious political compulsion advancing under osten-
" sibly religious banners. It is significant that, after
"3,000 years of religious competition in the Far East,
" the old Chinese Shinto should find renewed favour
"in Japan, and should have produced moral qualities
" nobler than any Christian power can show at this
" moment" (E. H. Parker, China and Religion [1905],
pp. 8-9).

"The fact cannot be overlooked that the manner in
" which the missionaries have been smuggled into the
"country against the will of the people, and the in-
"judicious methods by which they have sought to
"establish their religion, are mainly responsible for
" the anti-foreign feeling which is so subversive of our
" interests in the Far East.

"The presence of the missionaries in the interior of
" China is due to a trick which reflects little credit on
" its perpetrator ; and although the latter was not an
" Englishman, we cannot deny having availed our-
" selves of the opportunity to profit by a dishonest
"action " (H. E. Gorst, History of China [1899], pp.

173-74)-

" Apparently the missionaries are quite contented

284 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

" to pull down anything for the sake of obtaining a
" few proselytes ; and as it has been said that the
" labours of statesmen are chiefly directed towards un-
" doing the mischief created by philanthropists, it
" may also be repeated that a great amount of diplo-
" matic effort in China, which might be more usefully
"employed, is wasted in a vain attempt to counter-
"act the political harm done by these misguided
" enthusiasts.

"In examining the causes of Chinese hostility to
"the presence of foreign missionaries, it may readily
" be surmised, to begin with, that a civilised com-
" munity, possessing a splendid literature and a
" highly developed social and political organisation,
" should view with the utmost resentment the estab-
" lishment in their country of alien societies with the
"avowed object of upsetting their most cherished
" institutions, and of introducing a strange religion.
" One must also recollect that the relations the
" Chinese have had with the nations professing this
" religion can scarcely have convinced them of the
"desirability of the new doctrine " {Ibid., pp. 175-76).

"The Chinese have hitherto judged us by our
"actions ; and they cannot forget that the presence of
" the foreigner in their country is the result of violence,
" and has been brought about by the repeated humilia-
"tion of their emperors. They see in their persistent
"efforts to gain a commercial footing in China
" nothing but the lust of gold, and a determination
"to exploit the resources of the country for no one's
" benefit but our own " {Ibid., p. 176).

" It often happens, for instance, that a Chinaman
"who has adopted the new faith, and has consequently
"been compelled to break with the family community,
" becomes involved in a dispute as to his share of the

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 285

" inheritance, which he naturally wishes to take with
" him. The disputants will perhaps bring the matter
" before a magistrate ; and the missionary, actuated
" no doubt by the best of motives, and merely wishing
"to see fair play, puts in his oar on behalf of his
"protege" {Ibid., p. 177).

" The Christian religion is characterised as hog
" worship ; an idea suggested to them by a play
" upon the words Tien Chu, which the Roman
" Catholics use to designate God, but which is un-
" fortunately analogous in sound to a term which
"implies 'the celestial pig.' Missionaries are re-
" presented as gouging out the eyes of children or
" corpses, for the supposed purpose of utilising them
"for medicinal purposes ; or they are depicted in the
"act of vivisecting Chinese victims in order to obtain
"parts of the body which are stated to be common
"elements of the European pharmacopoeia. In other
" pictures insinuations are made of the grossest
" immorality.

" These slanders are old enough ; but they serve
"the purpose of the literati whenever there is an
" anti-foreign riot to be provoked. After the Yang-
"tse outrages in 1891, the Taotai of Wuhu reported
"officially to the authorities at Pekin that charges
"had been made against the missionaries of stealing
"the eyes of sick people; that he had investigated
" the truth of the allegations, and had discovered in
" the crypt of the church several corpses in which the
"eyes were missing" {Ibid., p. 178).

" All these absurd charges of immorality could
" never have been formulated had not the mission
"societies of England, America, Sweden, and Den-
" mark sent out large numbers of young women to
"China as missionaries. These poor girls know

2S6 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

*' nothing of the manners and customs of the country
" to which they are transported. They arrive, full of
"zeal and enthusiasm, eager for the work of convert-
" ing the heathen, and are dispatched to the interior
" in batches of ten or twelve, clad in Chinese dress,
"and under the escort of a man. No proceeding
" could be more calculated to shock the modesty and
" violate the traditional usages of the natives. It
"would be most improper for a wife to gad about
"openly with her husband in a country where it is
"even considered indecorous for two intimate friends
" to mention in conversation the mere existence of a
"female relation. In the opinion of the Chinese the
" proper place for women is the domestic hearth, and
" no good is likely to come of taking her out of her
"sphere; a lesson which the men of the West are
" learning by bitter experience. But for unmarried
" girls to travel round with a man is an outrage to
" morality. Such highly indecent conduct can have,
"they think, but one meaning; and they do not
" need the cartoons of the literati to point it out to
"them. Their own nunneries and monasteries have
" for the most part an evil reputation ; and on that
"account they are the more predisposed to believe no
" better of the Christian missions, where unmarried
" people of both sexes are permitted to live under one
" roof" {Ibid., pp. 179-80).

" Some good French nuns at Tientsin, when the
" populace became excited, invited a committee of
"five townsfolk to inspect the institution. Unfor-
" tunately, before the visit was over the French
"Consul, who was afterwards described as being in
"'a state of excitement bordering on insanity,'
" bounced in and drove the natives out. The local
" magistrate protested against the injudiciousness of

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 287

"not reassuring the suspicious 'stupid people' as
" had been arranged, and warned the Consul that
" grave trouble was to be expected. A day or two
"afterwards the mob revisited the orphanage, the
" Consul flourished a pistol, and was knocked down
"and killed; and the Chinese, now wildly excited,
" murdered the Sisters of Mercy and some other
" persons, native and foreign, to the number of forty,
" and, after letting the children in the orphanage go,
"sacked the institution. The inquiry into the affair
" was conducted by Li Hung Chang, who executed
" sixteen persons, banished several others, and secured
" the deposition of a prefect and a magistrate. A
"mission of apology was also sent to Paris, and a
" payment of 400,000 taels made to the French Govern-
" ment " (Robertson Scott, The People of China, p. 43).

" An Old Kent Road Parallel. — In all the
" circumstances of the case one could well imagine an
" intelligent Chinaman, in asking that a lenient view
" should be taken of some of the riots to which the
" prejudices of his countrymen have driven them,
" calling attention to four facts : —

" I. That two centuries have not elapsed since a
"woman was executed in the United Kingdom for
"witchcraft (a faith in which has sent, since the issue
"of Pope Innocent VIII's Bull, 9,000,000 persons in
" Europe to their death) ;

" 2. That to this day there are frequently murders
" of Jews in Western countries due to the belief that
"they kill their children at the Passover ;

" 3. That our own kith and kin, when they come to
" England as Mormon missionaries, are frequently
" roughly handled ; and

" 4. That if an outlandishly attired Chinaman, with
" a wife and apparently two concubines, addicted for

288 FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES

"an inexplicable reason to wearing evening dress in
"the streets, took a house off the Old Kent Road,
"and there practised questionable rites, distributed
" tracts subversive of recognised principles, of domestic
"as well as religious life, and was believed to look
" forward to a time when half Camberwell, if not all
" Surrey and Kent, would be secured from a com-
" placent Foreign Office for a rich, religious, and
"commercial colony of compatriots of like demoralis-
" ing beliefs and practices, all the J.P.s and police-
" men in South London would hardly guarantee the
" strangers against a dangerous mob manifestation "
{Ihid., pp. 135-36).

" History Repeats Itself. — It is perhaps well
" that it should be borne in mind that not only in
" the East, but in the West, pioneering Christians
"have been the subject of slanders almost identical
" with those which have had such disastrous conse-
"quences in China. The early Christians of ancient
" Rome, we read in Gibbon's Decline and Fall, were
" regarded as the most wicked of humankind, who
" practised in their dark recesses every abomination
"that a depraved fancy could suggest, and who
"solicited the favour of their unknown God by the
" sacrifice of every moral virtue. There were many
"who pretended to confess, or to relate the ceremonies
" of the abhorred society. It was asserted that a
" new-born infant, entirely covered with flour, was
" presented, like some mystic symbol of initiation,
"to the knife of the proselyte, who unknowingly
" inflicted many a secret and mortal wound, and as
"as soon as the cruel deed was perpetrated the
"sectaries drank up the blood, greedily tore asunder
" the quivering members, and pledged themselves to
" eternal secrecy by a mutual consciousness of guilt.

FAILURE OF THE MISSIONARIES 289

" This inhuman sacrifice was succeeded by a suitable
" entertainment, in which intemperance served as a
" provocation to brutal lust ; till, at the appointed
" moment, the lights were suddenly extinguished,
"shame was banished, nature was forgotten, and — "
{Ihid., p. 136).

EUROPEANS IN CHINA

From this special consideration of the conduct of the
missionaries, we must go on to consider the behaviour
of Christians generally in China. It is not merely
the foolish and antiquated dogmas of the Churches,
but also the conduct of the followers of the Churches,
which excite a disdain for Christianity in the minds of
the educated Chinese. The missionaries come with
their Sermon on the Mount and their boast that the
morality of Christ is purer and more elevated than the
morality of Confucius. They proclaim that their
gospels have lifted Europe to the pinnacle of greatness,
and will lift China to a similar position. Yet what
do the Chinese see of the influence of Christ's
teaching on the Europeans with whom they have
come in contact?

It is not too much to say that the conduct of
European Christians in China has been one long and
flagrant exhibition of selfishness, cupidity, injustice,
and violence. There is hardly a great Power in
Europe that has not, in the sight and at the expense
of the Chinese, violated nearly every principle of the
moral code. Christian diplomatists have dealt with
the helpless people on the most flagrant application of
the maxim that "might is right," and Christian
soldiers have looted and outraged as they have not
been permitted to do in Europe for some hundreds of
years. Their Christian pastors have, moreover, not
merely acquiesced in these outrages by their silence,
but have been the direct occasion of them, profited

290

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 291

by them, and actually shared the loot. This abomin-
able conduct of Europe in Asia is so notorious that
we need do no more than quote two or three authori-
tative writers. First let us hear Mr. Chester
Holcombe, the former Acting Minister of the United
States at Pekin. In his Real Chinese Question he
says : —

" In January, 1875, the Chinese Cabinet laid before
'the diplomatic body at Pekin a voluminous docu-
' ment containing, in substance, two grievances.
' The principal one was the opium traffic. The other
'embodied complaints against Roman Catholic
' missionaries. They were charged with interference
' with local officials in the discharge of their duties,
' when a convert was accused of crime and violation of
' some of the important sumptuary laws of the empire.
' Thus it was asserted that some of the priests and
' bishops adopted the official costume, and even wore
' garments of the imperial yellow, which colour none
'but the Emperor might use" (pp. 166-67).

" It was not the foreigner against whom the empire
' was shut, but the Western foreigner. And in
' taking this line of policy China acted as would other
' nations under like circumstances. She judged the
' many whom she had never seen by the few whom
' she saw. She condemned all Western nations,
' because of the few unwholesome specimens who
'came clamouring and ravaging to her shores.
' Their appearance, manners, dress, conduct — every-
' thing about them confirmed Chinese vanity, arro-
' gance, and every other absurd and exalted notion of
' themselves, and excited contempt, fear, and hate of
'these straggling monstrosities, as they seemed to
' native eyes, from the remote parts of the earth.
' Hence came Chinese seclusion " (p. 231).

292 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" To kick a Chinaman if he gets in the way, knock
' him down if he is jmpudent, or take a club to a
' stupid or refractory servant, are, as the Chinese
'claim, practically held to be among the rights,
' privileges, and liberties of foreigners resident in
'the Celestial empire. Satisfaction is seldom or
' never obtained for such outrages. And the extent
' to which they prejudice the masses of the people
' against everything foreign is very much under-
' estimated. Those who indulge in such misconduct
' can only be dealt with through their own officials.
' If they are punished, the fact is little likely to be
'known. And this aggravates the feeling of anger
'and resentment" (pp. 239-40).

" It hardly need be said that failures of justice upon
'the part of foreign courts in China, trivial punish-
' ments inflicted for grave crimes, and escapes from
' deserved penalties upon some legal technicality,
' have done much to embitter the masses of the
' Chinese. They may have little law, but they have
'stern and summary means of justice or vengeance,
' whichever they should be called, and are not slow to
'apply these means whenever they see fit to do so.
' Mobs and riots have resulted in China from what
'the people have believed to be utter disregard, by
'foreign officers of justice, of their rights of property
'and life.

" An American was arrested in a Chinese city
'charged with the abduction of a Buddhist nun, a
' mere girl, for immoral purposes. The penalty
' attached to this crime under Chinese law is death.
' As foreigners in China can only be tried before their
' own officials and under the laws of their native land,
' he was brought before a United States consul, found
' guilty, and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 293

" He appealed to a higher court, and, while being
"taken to prison to await its decision, quietly walked
"away from the officer having him in custody, and
" was never seen again.

"An American, master of a schooner, in a broad
" channel and on a bright summer day, rather than shift
"his helm coolly ran down and sunk a Chinese junk,
"causing the drowning of three men. His vessel
" was seized by the United States consular authorities
" pending trial. But he put the officer of the court
" into an open boat, sailed out of the harbour, and
" was never brought to justice.

" In the spring of 1883 two foreigners, one of them
" being a British subject, were returning to their
" homes in Canton after a night spent in gambling
"and drinking. It was just at daylight, and their
"way led them through a street where were many
"Chinese, men, women, and children, sitting or
"lounging about the doors of tea-firing establish-
" ments, waiting for the time to begin their day's
"work. They did not obstruct the street, nor give
"any cause of offence. Both men were somewhat
" intoxicated, and the Englishman, apparently for
"amusement, began tapping and counting off the
" natives as he passed along, with a stick which he
"carried. This was taken in good part, the Chinese
" laughing and dodging to avoid his harmless blows.
" But this sport aroused the tiger in the man's blood,
" and when he reached his door, near at hand he
"ordered a servant to give him a loaded revolver,
"and, turning about, he emptied the weapon into the
"bodies of the unoffending Chinese. Two of them
"were instantly killed, a third was fatally wounded,
"and others received more or less serious injuries.

" The man was not arrested by the British consul

294 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

' until an indignant protest at the delay was made by
'the Chinese authorities. He was then taken to
' Hong Kong, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to
'five years' imprisonment. A most strenuous objec-
'tion was made to this manifest failure of justice, but
' it received no attention. The excitement at Canton
' rose to fever heat, and public meetings, in denuncia-
'tion of the conduct of the British authorities, were
'held by the people. While matters were in this
'critical state, the quartermaster of a British steamer
' lying at the dock in Canton carelessly shoved a
' Chinese pedlar over board from the deck of the
' vessel, and he was drowned. The man guilty of
'this heedless act was not arrested, and when, later,
' his trial was demanded by the Viceroy at Canton,
'the British authorities refused to take any action in
'his case.

"This second incident set the Chinese people into
' instant commotion. A mob gathered and proceeded
' to the destruction of property within the limits of
'the British concession. Private dwellings were
' respected, and no indignity or harm was offered to
' human beings. But before the authorities could
'suppress the outbreak, store-houses were broken
'open, and several hundred thousand dollars' worth
' of merchandise was destroyed. The attack was
'solely directed against British property, but
'American, German, and French merchants were
'also sufferers, though in a smaller degree.

" The next step in this wretched business was the
' transfer of it to the diplomatic officials at Pekin,
'and the formulation of claims for damages for the
' property of the foreign merchants destroyed by the
'mob. In the meantime the imperial authorities had
f taken up the question of the failure of justice. A

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 295

" Statement of marked ability and unanswerable
" reasoning had been prepared, in which the revision
"of the case of the murderer and a trial of the reck-
" less quartermaster were insisted upon. The only
"answer given to this demand was the declaration
" that Her Britannic Majesty's Government could not
" interfere with the sacred functions of her courts of
"justice" (pp. 243-47).

" The session of Hong Kong made certain and
" unavoidable the issue of all protests and all struggles
" by the imperial authorities against the impoverish-
"ment and debauchery of their people. And here
" again, to the inevitable humiliation and shame felt
"by the Chinese at the loss of territory, was added
" rage, all the more bitter because impotent, that the
" soil of the empire was being used as standing
" ground from which to work the ruin of the race "
(pp. 294-95).

" It is impossible not to sympathise with the ex-
"asperation and intense anger felt by the Chinese
" Government at this policy of greed and eagerness to
"administer upon the effects of a nation neither dead
" nor moribund. No possible arguments can be cited
"to justify the course of France, except such as
"sanction the deeds of the highwayman " (p. 301).

" But the seizure of Kia Chow in the province or
" Shantung destroyed both prestige and opportunity.
" By that act Germany placed herself, in the minds
" of the Chinese, in the black list of treacherous
"and ravening European wolves, hungry to tear in
" pieces and devour their patrimony. The nominal
" ' lease ' of the area for a long term of years deceived
" no one. That it was taken in reparation for the
" murder of two missionaries was instantly recognised
"as a very flimsy pretext. Even Great Britain had

296 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" never demanded territory in exchange for missionary
"blood, but only in case of interference with its sales
" of opium " (pp. 304-05).

"In 1897 the French Consul-General at Shanghai
" demanded a large increase in the area of his con-
" cession. The plot of ground for which he asked,
"and upon which he wished, among other things, to
"construct a slaughter-house, contained a burial-
" ground upon which were thousands of graves of all
" ages. There was also a temple upon the premises.
" He not only proposed to desecrate this spot, the
" most sacred of all in the eyes of the Chinese, but he
" modestly demanded that all bodies and old coffins
" should be removed at the expense of the surviving
" relatives.

" The Chinese Government was coerced into yield-
"ing to this demand. But when, upon the i6th of
"July, 1898, a large body of armed French men-of-
" wars men were landed to destroy the temple and
"take possession of the ground, they were attacked
" by a mob. In the battle which ensued seventeen
" Chinamen were killed and twenty-six wounded.
" But the temper of the people was so excited and
" hostile that the proceedings for the French occu-
" pancy of the area were temporarily abandoned.

"The next step in the progress of the Consul-
" General was in the nature of a demand for com-
" pensation for the riot, and that he be put into quiet
"possession of the conceded ground. In December,
" 1898, he proposed, in a great spirit of conciliation,
" that, in lieu of the pecuniary compensation pre-
" viously demanded, an additional concession of land
"be made to France. He asked for the entire river
"frontage of the Chinese city of Shanghai. Upon
"this is a fine granite wharf, newly built, and

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 297

" extensive stores and warehouses equal to those found
"in any American seaport, all in excellent order,
" lighted by electricity, and doing an enormous busi-
" ness. If all this property, together with another
"large block of land upon the other side of the
" Chinese city, were surrendered in place of pecuniary
"compensation for that riot, and the temple and
" burial-ground were added to the concession, the
" honour of France would be satisfied, and there
"would be no more trouble.

" Another scheme in connection with these foreign
"areas at the open ports has been more than once
" successfully exploited at the expense of the Chinese
"Government, costing much money, as well as pro-
"ducing serious ill-feeling. Foreign residents within
" the concessions have frequently bought land outside
" of them from the natives, and erected extensive
" buildings thereon for various business purposes.
"There is no treaty right to do this, but the Chinese
" authorities have good-naturedly permitted it. In
" such and all other land purchases in China formal
"and duly recorded deeds are given, exactly as is the
" custom in the United States. With this fact kept
" in mind, the peculiar variety of spoliation about to
" be described will be readily understood.

" Imagine a treaty port at which there are but two
"concessions, a British and a French. A half-dozen
" British subjects have bought extensive tracts of land
"along a river front, outside either concession, and
" have erected wharves, warehouses, and other build-
" ings upon this land. They are doing a large and
" profitable business. Such being the condition of
"affairs, the German authorities demand a concession
" at this port ; and they select for this purpose an
"area which includes all the property of these British

298 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" merchants. Evil-minded persons have been known
" to say that they are the more likely to select ground
" because it encloses such foreign-owned property.
"After the usual delays, references, and objections,
" the German demand is granted, the ground marked
"out, boundary stones set, and the consul hoists his
" flag over the new concession.

" One of the first steps taken by the governor of
" this miniature State is to order the British merchants
" mentioned above to remove their property from the
" new German area. If they refuse, they are ejected
" by force. If they demand compensation, it is denied
" them upon the ground that their title is invalid,
" since the treaty does not authorise foreign owner-
" ship of land outside of the concession limits. The
" British owners are eventually ousted from their
" property and business, which is practically con-
"fiscated to the benefit of the German Government.
"Then comes the final act in thistravesty upon justice
"and decency. The Briton appeals to his Govern-
" ment, submits elaborate schedules of property lost,
" value of business, estimated present and prospective
" profits, interest upon investment, value of good-
" will, and every other imaginable, and sometimes
"unimaginable, demand; and payment in full is
"exacted from the Chinese authorities.

" Lord Charles Beresford, referring to this scheme
" of robbery by diplomatic methods, says : ' This is
" ' a cowardly and unchivalrous practice, which has
" ' been resorted to lately, under similar circumstances,
" ' by all foreign countries (European) with regard to
" ' China. China being prostrate, one European
" ' Power, at the point of the bayonet, demands con-
" ' cessions which China has neither the right to give
"'nor the power to refuse. Immediately another

EUROPEANS IN„CHINA 299

" ' European Power, at the point of the bayonet,
" ' compels China to pay heavy compensation for
" ' acceding to demands which she has had no means
" ' to resist ' " (pp. 309-13).

" Lord Charles Beresford, in The Break-up of
" China, reports the Chinese officials at Tientsin as
" follows : ' They said that Russia insisted on China
" ' giving concessions which she was helpless to
" ' refuse, and that Great Britain immediately de-
" ' manded why such concessions were given, and
" ' either made China pay heavily or give an equiva-
" ' lent, which China was equally helpless to refuse.
"As an unintentional illustration of this complaint,
" he says, speaking of certain events at Chefoo : ' The
" ' Chinese were induced to sell the foreshore (which
" ' belonged to them) to a Russian company. Instead
" ' of arguing out the point in a friendly manner with
" ' the Russian Government, the British Government
" ' insisted on the Chinese paying 30,000 taels (over
" ' $20,000) for granting a concession which, owing
" 'to their weakness, they were powerless to refuse.'
"That is to say, blackmail to the amount of more
" than $20,000 was levied by Great Britain upon
" China because the latter had disposed of a piece of
" its own property as it saw fit and had the right to
" do " (pp. 336-37)-

"The Chinese are abundantly able to govern them-
" selves, and to work out their own future. Why not
" allow them to do it? They possess all of the ability
" of the Japanese, with more steadfastness and con-
"servatism. They adopt new ideas less readily,
" perhaps ; but, once accepted, those ideas are more
" permanently employed, and to better purpose.
"They might not shape all things in conformity with
" American or European notions and manners. But

300 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

"who has decided that the notions and manners of
" the latter are, invariably and unequivocally, the best
" possible for every race and every condition ? The
" entire history of the Chinese race demonstrates its
" ability, strength, and manliness " (pp. 348-49).

" In the time of our Henry the Eighth China had
"her first trouble with Europeans. Portuguese
" traders on the coast behaved so disgracefully that
" hundreds of them were massacred by the provoked
" populace, and the so-called Portuguese Ambassador
" — the first European to arrive at Pekin with a quasi-
" diplomatic ' mission for the extension of commerce '
" — was summarily beheaded by the Emperor's order.
" After this experience of the ' foreign devil ' the
" Chinese were naturally chary of admitting the
"apostles of Western religions who presented them-
" selves from time to time. A great and good man
" named Ricci, a missionary in a thousand, was re-
"ceived, however ; and he (as will be seen in another
" place) did nothing to make his hosts regret the
" kindness they had shown to a European. Before
"the arrival of the Latin priest at Pekin the Latin
"soldier, under the aegis of Spain, had laid hold of
" the Philippines ; and the Chinese had another un-
" pleasant experience of the methods of the West,
"for the Dons, when Chinese immigration into their
" new dominions set in too freely, murdered 20,000 of
"them in cold blood " (J. W. Robertson-Scott, The
People of China [igoo\, p. 19).

We may now quote somewhat more lengthy extracts
from Mr. George Lynch's work, The War of the
Civilisations (1901). Mr. Lynch was with the allied
troops during the campaign of 1900, and gives us a

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 301

repellent account of the proceedings which he wit-
nessed. We can quite understand how the intelligent
Chinaman must feel after this lamentable exhibition
of Christianity in practice : —

" More than the loss of Formosa or Wei-Hai-Wei
" was the loss of this section of their Holy Land.' It
" naturally worked on the religious and imaginative
" feelings of the people, and hallowed the aspirations
" of the Boxers with the sanctity of a crusade. It was
" more than loss of territory, this — it was loss of
"territory combined with sacrilege. The West-
" minster Abbey of their national religious life was
"being forcibly taken from them. If two Chinese
" missionaries had been killed in a German village,
" would the German Emperor have consented to the
" cession of a Baltic port as compensation for the
"outrage? And if through force of circumstances he
" had to consent, would it have been surprising if his
" subjects had risen indignantly in arms to wrest it
" back ? A strange pathos there is in the position of
" the Emperor Kwang-Su at this juncture — the im-
" potent Emperor of four hundred million souls, when
" he found himself forced to put his signature to this
"cession of a portion of the sanctified province of his
" dominions. He made a great fire of the most anti-
" quated books in his library, and swore to his ances-
" tors that he would do his utmost to set his empire
" right, and stoop to the reforms necessary to secure it
" against the aggression of these pestilent foreigners "
(pp. 8-9).

' This was Kiaochow, which represents the price paid to Germany
by China for the lives of two missionaries killed by the irresponsible
villagers, who were strongly opposed to the missionary propaganda.
This province may be considered as China's Holy Land, being the
birthplace of both Mencius and Confucius. It is to China what
Palestine is to the Christians, and Mecca to the Mohammedans. —
H. S. M.

302 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

"There was a wail in the voice of a young China-
" man (they marry young over there), who told us
"that his wife of sixteen had been one of the five
"girls carried off by the Russians " (p. 140).

"A story has gone the round that, when the French
" general was remonstrated with by his allied col-
" leagues about the frequent occurrence of disgraceful
" outrages upon women, he replied : ' It is impossible
" 'to restrain the gallantry of the French soldier.'

" A man who arrived at that time from Tientsin
" told of having seen the beheading of a Chinaman
" by the Japs ; and this story, with the alteration of
" the names of places, was being repeated all along
"the track of war. This Chinaman had accepted two
" dollars from two Russian soldiers to act as a guide.
" He brought them to a house where there was a
"woman living with her husband and two children.
" They outraged the woman, killed one of the children
"by tossing it on their bayonets, and wounded the
" husband mortally ; but before the latter died he was
"able to give the name of the Chinaman who had
" brought the Russians to his house, which led to the
" execution of that treacherous fellow-countryman.

" Even before the husband died the woman took
" the child that still remained in her arms, and jumped
" with it into the canal, where they were drowned.

" The civilised allied forces have seen many curious
" sights on their march up and on their arrival at
" Pekin, and not the least curious was the number of
" houses where the inhabitants had committed suicide
"just before their arrival ; sometimes, as in a house
" at Yangtsun, a row of bodies would be found
" hanging in the central yard of the house, or some-
" times lying poisoned side by side on the kang.

" News travels fast in China, and in advance of our

Chinese Ladies at Capds.

Observe the Chinese equivalent of the Virgin Mary
in the interior. When China was invaded by the
Christian nations of the West, many of these beautiful
homes were destroyed, tliousands of ladies violated, and
many thousands committed suicide rather than fall into
the hands of the Christian soldiers. Still, China was a
party to the Hague Convention. Is there such a thing
on this planet as international law ?

To race p. 302.

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 303

" march the people seemed to be thoroughly aware of
"the fate that probably awaited them. Although
" nearly the whole population cleared off before our
"advance, there were many, especially women, who
" could not get away, and who were unable to travel
" with their tiny, compressed feet except in carts or on
"the backs of their servants. And it was principally
" these who, finally in the last extremity, committed
"suicide.

" As the Chinese have agreed to erect a monument
"to Baron von Ketteler in Pekin in commemorative
" apology for his murder, it appears to me that there
" is an opportunity for the allies to erect one also. It
" might be of pure white jade, which the Chinese
"women love, which in its translucent depths seems
" to hold the bright Eastern sunlight with the linger-
" ing clasp of a caress, and might bear an inscription
"saying that it was erected in honour to the memory
" of the women and girls of the province of Pechili
" who had sacrificed their lives to preserve their
" chastity.

" To any man who went through those days with
"open eyes it was plain by what fears they were
" driven to this. It is said that each man in the
" Legations kept a bullet for the women in case the
" attacks of the Chinese should at last prove success-
" ful, when the time would come to save them by its
" means from worse than death. These Chinese,
" ignorant of the methods of civilised war, when they
" heard the guns of the invaders and saw at night
" their path torch-lit by burning villages, evidently
" thought that the time had come for their wives and
" sisters, as well as for themselves, to save themselves
"by suicide.

" There are things that I mu^t not write, and that

304 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" may not be printed in England, which would seem
"to show that this Western civilisation of ours is
" merely a veneer over savagery. The actual truth
" has never been written about any war, and this will
" be no exception. The cry of ' Sha, Sha ' (kill, kill),
" which the Boxer mob shouted outside the Legations,
" has been answered from Europe by the German
" Emperor's speeches for ' Vengeance, Vengeance,'
"and in paying a visit to the house of the prefect of
"the German section the effect of his speeches was
" everywhere apparent " (pp. 140-43).

"Scant mercy had been shown them throughout.
" In civilised warfare there is generally some little
" respect shown for the priests and places of worship
"of the conquered people, but here there was none
"whatever. Horses were stabled in the temples, and
" the art heirlooms of thousands of years of the
" nation's life to be found therein were frequently
" mutilated and destroyed when they were not stolen.
" In the street where I lived in Pekin for a whole
"week were to be seen, day by day, carts passing
" backwards and forwards laden with books which
"were being brought to be consumed in a huge
"fire burning in a yard outside the Palace wall.
" Thousands of books were thus treated, so that the
"whole street was littered with their fluttering leaves
"to such an extent that I could not get my little
"Chinese pony to pass there without getting off and
" leading him, for he shied continually at the flutter-
" ing papers. Day after day this literary holocaust
" continued. When the wind was in the direction of
" my house a fine black snow kept perpetually falling,
"and covered the roofs and courtyards with these
"ashes of dead thoughts. Hundreds of the books
" were written in the quaint characters whiQh showed

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 305

" that they belonged to, and were written by, Lama
" priests ; many of them had probably found their
" way there from the bleak steppes of far Thibet.

" They were printed with those wooden blocks by
" which these barbarians practised the art of printing
"for centuries before the time of Caxton. Many of
" them also were in manuscript, which must have
" meant years of labour ; and hand-painted pictures
" illustrating some of them were occasionally to be
" found. They were all alike consigned to the same
"funeral pyre, and thousands of volumes of unascer-
"tained, but perhaps considerable, value were thus
" lost to the world for ever.

" As the bleak, cold wind from the plains, with the
"shiver of approaching winter in it, swept down the
" deserted street at night, and moaned dolorously
" through the ruined houses, rattling doors and
" flapping paper windows, it lifted those torn book
" leaves, and swirled them round in a fantastic dance
" of death, until one could almost imagine one heard
" the lamentation of the ghosts of their long dead
"authors — priests, hermits, and scholars — mourning
" over the ashes of their life-work.

"Just think of all this, ye smug-faced hypocrites
" of the West ! Think of it when you put your hands
" into your pockets and add your names to well-
" advertised lists of subscriptions to public libraries,
" if you have intellectually the elasticity of your waist-
" coats at that before-lunch period of the Sabbath
"when going churchwards under your shining silk
" hats to hear soothing doctrines cooed from the
" pulpit ! Try to imagine yourselves in the place of
"these Chinamen. And then for a few minutes try
" to realise if your actions have been consistent with
" the God of your Churches,

X

3o6 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" ' Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that
' ' men should do unto you, do ye even so to them,
' ' for this is the law and the prophets.'

" Go back on the history of your first contact with
' this peaceful people, your aggression, your first war
'with them, waged because they wanted to prevent
'you selling them a noisome drug, the subsequent
'wars and robberies because they preferred the
'religion of their fathers to yours. Think for a
' minute or two of this latest campaign ! Think of
'the massacre of that coolie-laden junk at Taju, the
'conduct of your soldiers, the violation of their
'women, the desecration of their temples, the burn-
' ing of their books, the robbery of their scientific
' instruments by an Emperor who loves to pose as
'an archangel made in Germany ! Just think of it
'all quietly for a few minutes, and if the Almighty
' has not already maimed you by depriving you of
' the sense of humour, you ought to be afforded
' enjoyment in this contemplation of yourselves. But
' I think He has long since justly deprived you of
' any vestige of this. To people who, seeing through
'the surface of things, look at the actualities, there
'is an awesome sadness not unmixed with fear for
'the future in this contemplation of this conflict of
'the West with the East, a feeling in no wise
' diminished by the contemplation of this last robber
' raid. And this last robber raid fully equals what
' has gone before " (pp. 146-49).

" I was watching a minister examining a carved
'and inscribed tablet of jade in one of the Emperor's
' rooms. He put it back in its place and walked on.
' Then he seemed curious to examine it again, and
' did so carefully for a few moments. Then he put
' his hands in his pockets, and seemed intent on con-

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 307

" templating the pattern of the ceiling. He apparently
" got so interested in it that he must have forgotten
" that he had not put back that bit of jade in its stand.
" There were some, however, who went in for looting
"in a more barefaced fashion. There was one dark
" room where a lot of stuff was stored away in boxes,
"which were opened- and a number of vases taken
"from them, principally of jade.

" A Frenchman managed to take away a gold-
" carved vase by crushing it with his knee, and
"putting it under his coat. Another was being
" carried off by two Englishmen, when they were
"seen by a mandarin, who complained to an English
" officer, and they were made to give it up. All the
" articles taken were of small value in comparison
" with those too heavy to be conveniently pocketed,
"and to the immense treasures which were probably
"securely secreted in this mysterious palace.

" There were very few Chinamen to be seen during
"our march through the palace. Three or four at
" the first gate, and solitary, unarmed soldiers stand-
" ing at doors along the line of our route. Not a
" vestige of expression was visible on their wrinkled,
"yellow faces. One or two of the ministers of the
" palace appeared, and later, after the march through,
" several more old gentlemen, many of them decorated
"with the peacock's feather, which they wear hanging
" down their backs from the inside of their hats. The
" last British officer to leave, whose duty it was to see
" that all his countrymen had left the palace, told me
"that after it was all over quite a large number of
" mandarins and retainers of all sorts came out of
"places where they had remained in concealment
" while we were inside.

" The march of the troops across the great court-

3o8 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

"yards, up and down the marble steps, and through
"the dimly lighted halls, was very picturesque, and
"the tramp of their nailshod boots over this forbidden
"ground was suggestive of many reflections. This
"column of Western soldiers seemed like a knife
"entering into the very heart of this old Eastern
"civilisation, and probing and laying bare a fistula
" of cankerous decay. Yet it was rich in gorgeous
" rottenness and decay most royal. Splendid cloisonne
"vases of wonderful workmanship stood level with
" men's heads. The Imperial banners, down which
"the five-clawed dragon writhed in gold, hung moth-
" eaten on the walls, while under our feet were every-
" where thick, rich carpets. It will be many years
" before the city of Pekin can possibly recover from this
"terrible visitation of fire and pillage " (pp. 159-61).

"There were many curious things happening in
"the days that followed the occupation. For the
"first three or four days everybody was on the 'loot,'
"or almost everybody. The pawnshops were, of
"course, the greatest finds, for the private houses
"had already been ransacked from one end of the
"city to the other " (p. 162).

" There was one thing that gave the Russians an
"advantage over other nations in dealing with the
" Chinese, and that was that there is no question of
" Russian missionaries with them " (p. 168).

" First of all there were the missionary looters.
"They had a number of converts more or less
"dependent upon them. This was given by them
"as a reason for what some people considered their
"stealing and holding sales of stolen goods. Their
'^ modus operandi was first to hoist flags over the
"houses of wealthy inhabitants, thereby protecting
" the buildings from the soldiers. Then on the

Interior of a Chinese Gentleman's
Mansion.

A travelling merchant is displaying his wares to the
iad\- of the liouse. Many of these beautiful mansions
have been destroyed and the ladies violated b}' the
Christian soldiers in the wars brought on by the
mischievous missionary propaganda — and the end is
not yet. There is only one remedy — the Chinese must
learn self-protection.

To face p. 3

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 309

"doors they would affix a notice saying that was the
" property of such-and-such a mission. The reverend
"gentleman would then move into one of the houses,
"and start to hold a sale of the contents. When the
" goods were exhausted he would move on to another,
"and so on " (p. 182).

" When the inhabitants suddenly fled from the
" city, or even before that, at the commencement of
"the Boxer troubles, thousands and thousands of
" pounds worth of silver was buried under the floors
"of their houses. If any of the owners of the houses
" or any of the servants connected with them remained,
" it was merely a matter of getting them to divulge
"the place where it was hidden. This frequently
"required considerable pressure — 'moral suasion.'

" ' I always let my boys do that part for me,' said
"the gentleman in question. ' It is just as well not
" ' to inquire too closely into their methods. I wait
" * outside with the cart till they have discovered the
" ' stuff. Sometimes I have to wait half-an-hour, or
" ' an hour, and once I had to wait two hours ; but
" ' then it was worth waiting for' " (pp. 182-83).

" Pearls are easily portable things, and of these
" precious jewels with the Chinese there must have
" been an enormous quantity in Pekin, but not a very
"great number were found by the soldiers. I saw
"some beautiful watches set with pearls, however.
" Watches were in great profusion among the sol-
"diers" (p. 184).

"Some Cossacks outside Pekin, who tore the child
" from its mother's breast, spitted it with a sword to
"the lintel, outraged the woman, and murdered her
" afterwards " ' (p. 203).

' Can anything' be found even among the worst and lowest canni-
bals to equal this in wickedness ? Holy Russia, indeed !— H. S. M.

3IO EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" The history of the intercourse between the West
" and the East is the history of vulgar aggressiveness
" punctuated with crime. The Chinese were a self-
" contained, self-supporting, and self-satisfied people
" — self-satisfied with their own progress and civilisa-
" tion long before the West became civilised. They
" had reached that stage of progress, of civilisation,
"which put them in the position of being selec-
"tive. Hundreds of years before the Elizabethan
" era they had quite reached the point which
" the West had attained in the sixteenth century "
(p. 216).

" A well-known and justly highly-esteemed diplomat
"said to me one day in Pekin : ' If a man had in his
" ' private capacity engaged in such transactions with
" ' the East, he would be blackballed from any decent
"'club.'

" And this was the summing-up in one phrase of
"our diplomatic intercourse with the East. This old,
"aristocratic people was in the position of an English
"gentleman living in a house on his own domain.
" He did not want to have intercourse with the people
"about him; he did not want to have his domain
" intruded upon. It was his own, a fee-simple of his
"country ; he had all he wanted within his domain,
"and they had no right of trespass. He was a peace-
"ful man, and had learnt so much of what we call
" civilisation that he objected to fighting. He had
" reached the standard where the rights of a question
"are the supreme and final court of appeal. In all
" his commercial dealings the rights of a contract,
" whether written or verbal, were the essentials of the
" contract itself. And then the first excuse for trespass,
"the first excuse for invasion, was found by the out-
" sider, when he insisted on his right to sell intoxicants

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 311

" to the servants of the proprietor of this fee-simple
"domain" (pp. 218-19).

" Here was a drug which was unknown to the
" Chinese ; they were utterly unacquainted with its
" use. It was introduced by European traders from
"India, and then, because there was interference with
" its importation into the country, the Europeans made
" war. We made war — the people who go about with
" Bibles, and forcing those Bibles down people's throats
" whenever they get a chance. And for what? They
" made war because some of these traders insisted that
" the Chinese should smoke this opium which sapped
" the vitality of the young men of the nation, that they
" should continue to develop the taste for this horrible,
" soul-sapping drug. One could understand it — at
" least, anyone who has any understanding of the
" Pharisaical makefacishness of the English mind — if
" they had waged this first war on behalf of the Bible,
" if they had seen fit to drive in the maxims of the
" Gospel by means of Maxim guns. But this was in
"an earlier stage of Pharisaical development.

" ' Take away your opium and your missionaries,
"'and you would be welcome,' was Prince Kung's
" verdict some years ago; while Wen H'siang added:
" ' Do away with your Ex-Territoriality Clause, and
" ' merchant and missionary may settle anywhere and
" ' everywhere ' " (pp. 219-20).

" If I were an American, I should be conscious of a
" feeling of very genuine pride for the conduct of the
" military and diplomatic operations in this late cam-
" paign with China " (pp. 223-24).

" If there is any country which is likely in the near
"future to rapidly develop its commercial intercourse
"with China, it is certainly the United States. And
" as far as I have been able to learn from American

312 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" business men, consuls, and diplomatists, they seem
" to have got the idea of the soundest policy of all —
" namely, that of developing trade with China, not by
"grabbing territory, and not by aggression, but by
"leaving 'China for the Chinese,' and dealing with
" them by right, and not by might " ' (p. 224).

" The late Emperor, Hsieu-Fang, abandoned him-
" self completely to the delights of his palace, and of
" these delights the greatest beyond compare was the
" beautiful Yehonala.

" Entering the palace in the fifth rank of concubines,
"she rose rapidly, till, after the birth of her son, she
"reached the status of Imperial Consort. But this
" position was only a step on the ladder of her
"ambition. The Empress was still there, and
"Yehonala was jealous of the Empress. There
"can be no higher tribute to the wonderful charm,
" magnetism, and power of her personality than that
" she soon conquered the heart of the Empress herself,
" so that on one occasion the latter, her defeated and
"supplanted rival, took her part, and interceded on
"her behalf with the Emperor.

" As early as at the age of eighteen she was actually
" Empress of China. She absolutely ruled the

' In the little geography that we had in our little red school-house
in the State of Maine were these words: "Asia is the largest and
richest grand division, and has more inhabitants than all the rest of
the world." The trade with the East has always been of the greatest
value. Nations have been enriched by this trade ; and, as a learned
Chinaman has said, " China is the East." If the Americans could
appreciate their opportunity and control their hooligan class on the
Pacific coast, this enormous trade would naturally gravitate to the
United States. The people of the Pacific coast of America now
have an opportunity seldom enjoyed, and if they are wise enough to
grasp the situation and enforce the common laws of humanity they
will become, in the near future, the richest trading community in the
world. It would pay the United States to pension off the hooligans
sufficiently to enable them to go East and live at the first-class hotels.
— H. S. M.

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 313

"Emperor, and through him his 400,000,000 of
"subjects, and, most wonderful of all, ruled the
" Empress herself" (pp. 228-29).

" The most casual consideration of this war of the
" civilisations would be incomplete if we were to leave
" out the part taken in it by those whose lives were
"devoted to the preaching of the Gospel of the Prince
" of Peace. This question of missionaries is a delicate
" one. The most sensitive feelings of a large number
"of people in England and America are so liable to
" be hurt. I have seen the subject gag the mouths of
"diplomats, politicians, prominent army officers, and
" men in all manner of high official positions.' If the
"sympathisers and supporters of missionaries in
" America were not such a strong body as they are,
"some leading American politicians and diplomats I
"have met would not be afraid to ventilate the senti-
" ments which I know they entertain on this subject.
" It is curiously interesting what different opinions
" you hear expressed in private by sensible men
"throughout the East compared with those which
"appear in any of their public utterances, printed or
" otherwise. Not having the votes of any constituents
" to cultivate, I do not feel hampered in giving
" expression to the convictions which are forced upon
" me from observation of missionary work in China.

" I have a profound conviction that the same con-
" elusion would be arrived at by any ordinary,
" unbiassed, common-sense person from a study of the
" evidence. The early history of missionary work in
"China shows conclusively that the Chinese were not

' It is the business of innumerable priests and parsons to protect
and fortify the members of their congregations from receiving the
truth. The ignorance of the ordinary churchgoer regarding the
origin of his own religion and the history of other religions is almost
unbelievable. — H. S. M.

314 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

'excessively bigoted as regards their religious beliefs.
' In fact, they approached the doctrines taught by the
'first missionaries with rather an open mind. Intel-
' ligent Chinamen have frequently referred to the
' fact that there never has been any persecution of
' the Mohammedan missionaries as such, and that
'serious opposition to, and persecution of. Christian
'missionaries only commenced with the beginning of
'foreign aggression.

" First the missionary, then the gun-boat, then the
' land-grabbing — -this is the procession of events in
'the Chinese mind. If we were endeavouring to
'evolve a combination of circumstances which would
'absolutely ensure Christian missionaries being
'thoroughly hated by the Chinese, we could not have
' surpassed the present position.

" Assuming the principle of ' Do as you would be
' 'done by,' apply the position of our missionaries in
' the East to England, for instance. Say that Chinese
' missionaries had obtained an entry into this country
' by a clause in a treaty, and a clause which, paren-
' thetically it must be remarked, was a forgery. Thus,
'as a matter of fact, every missionary passport to
' China at the present day bears upon it the seal of
'Ananias, the indelible stain of as low a piece of
'cheating as ever diplomacy can show.

" When the missionary starts preaching his strange
' doctrine, one of the immediate effects is that any
' converts he makes are practically rendered exempt
'from the laws of the country in which they are
'living. The converts that a Chinese missionary
' would make around Covent Garden would, de facto,
'be outside the jurisdiction of the police magistrate
'sitting at Bow Street, and for the judgment of any
'legal dispute, or the punishment of any misconduct,

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 315

"would have the right to have their cases tried before
"a representative of the Chinese Minister in Portland
" Place.

" One of the many causes of irritation to which
" this gives rise among their fellow-countrymen who
"do not adopt Christianity is the exemption, in the
" case of villagers, from contributing to the expenses
"of the village festivals. As Christians they cannot,
" or do not, subscribe. Yet they are spectators all
" the same. Christianity, in fact, gives them a free
" pass to the local equivalent to our race meetings and
" theatres.

"And then, if the exasperation of the people rises
" to such a point that in some place or another a
" missionary is killed, there follow fines and penalties,
" or the annexation of a portion of the country. It
" must always be borne in mind that the taking of
" life is regarded in the East much more lightly than
" it is in the West. Whether this is so because lives
" are so plentiful in that teeming population, or
"because, according to the doctrines of Buddha, each
" one has more than one life to live, I leave to specu-
" lation.

" Then with many missionaries there is an utter
" disregard to the prejudices of the people — as, for
" instance, in the sites they select for the erection of
"their churches. The ' Fengshui,' an expression
" which perhaps is best translated spirits of bad and
"good luck, for those unversed in Chinese supersti-
"tions, may appear childish and unintelligible; and
" therefore we seem to think that they have as little
" right to indulge in belief in it as they have to
" indulge in the exclusive possession of their own
"country.

"Again, the Chinese missionary in England might

3i6 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" fail to see why the Londoners should object to the
"erection of a Buddhist temple in Hyde Park, or on
"a nice suitable open space in the heart of West-
" minster. Under a similar system to that on which
"we are working our missionaries in China, he
"would appeal to Portland Place, and any such
"childish objections would be quickly over-ruled"
(pp. 253-56).

" If I were a missionary, I do not see why I should
" object to persecution. A soldier takes his wounds,
" or his possible death, as part of his day's work.
" Even in the nondescript capacity of war correspon-
"dent I had to go through three diseases which are
" incidental to campaigns, and be twice wounded.
"And if the soldier takes his killing as kindly as may
"be, I do not see why the missionary should not do
"so. Or if he is not prepared to do so, I do not
"think he is worthy of the high calling that he has
" adopted ; for inconceivably higher is the vocation of
" the missionary to that of any soldier. I do not under-
" stand this muddling of things. There have been
" more helpless Chinese labourers killed in North
" America alone than there have been Europeans
" killed in the whole of China " (p. 257).

" If the policy of compensation and revenge for the
" deaths of the missionaries is to be carried out, it
"seems like tempting Providence to allow them to
" penetrate into the remote interior, unless it be for
"the purpose of using them as livebait for catching
"provinces, as the German Emperor did in the case
" of Kiao-Chow.

"As I write I see that, according to the Morning
"Post, the pro-foreign Viceroy, Ching Ke-Tung,
"author of China's Only Hope, has formulated plans
"for the settlement of the missionary problem, which

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 317

" he has forwarded to Sir Chi-Chen-Lofengluh, Chinese
" Minister in London, with the request that he shall
"present them to the British Government.

"He proposes the appointment of an international
" commission to investigate and determine the methods
" of missionary work. The recent troubles, he men-
"tions, originated in difficulties between native con-
" verts and non-Christians ; and to prevent their
" recurrence he recommends the enforcement of the
" following regulations : —

" ' Converts shall present their complaints to magis-
" ' trates instead of to missionaries. Before building
"'chapels and houses missionaries shall present the
" ' plans to officials, so that no question as to the value
" ' of the property may arise in the event of its being
"'destroyed. Missionaries going into the interior
" ' must understand the Chinese language and litera-
" ' ture, and wear Chinese dress. The missions must
" ' investigate the character of converts before admit-
" ' ting them to membership. Missions to be pro-
" ' hibited from shielding criminals and notorious
" 'characters.'

"In addition to these most reasonable suggestions,
" there are many others which, in the interest of
" Christianity, might with advantage be considered
" by missionary bodies themselves. Owing to the
" number of Protestant faiths, of which there are over
" two dozen represented by British missionaries in
" China, they do not even agree upon the name of the
" God whose doctrine they are teaching, for the Deity
" is called by no less than six different names, besides
" those of the non-Protestant bodies, who have chosen
"names of their own.' Would it not be well that

' To the Chinese it appears that each different name indicates a
different God, and in this they are quite right. No student of religion

3iS EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" these various missions should have a conference,
" and come to some agreement among themselves on
"points such as this?" (pp. 261-63).

" The selective little Japs have learned all we have
"to teach ; and now, when it suits them, they turn
" their teachers out. We can see it in every one of
" their big commercial undertakings. They use the
" teachers as long as they are useful ; and then, in
" the case of the Nippon-Usan-Kaisha, the fourth
"biggest steamship company in the world, they oust
" the English and Scotchmen to make room for the
"Japanese.

" What Japan has done on a small scale China,
" when she takes it into her head, can do on an
"immensely larger one. Then the nation 'thatwit-
" ' nessed the rise to glory and decay of Egypt, Assyria,
" ' Babylonia, Greece, and Rome ' will be able to fling
" defiance in the face of the West,

Though all the loud-lunged trumpets upon earth
Blared from the heights of all the thrones

"against her" (p. 302).

" China was represented at the Hague Conference
" with the nations of Europe, when the following
" rules of war were drawn up, among others, and
" agreed to : —

" Rule XLVII. — Pillage is formally forbidden.

" Rule XLVI. — Family honour and rights, indi-
" vidual lives, and private property, as well as reli-
" gious convictions and liberty, must be respected.
" Private property cannot be confiscated.

could possibly confuse the Catholic God with the Methodist God,
and both are totally different from the Universalist God. As each
of these Gods has to be multiplied by three, it will be seen that
there is no lack of Gods in China at the present time. The foreign
article is cheap, and the God market overstocked, — H. S. M.

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 319

" Rule XXVIII. — It is forbidden to loot a town or
" place, even if taken by storm.

" But the history of the late campaign in China is
" a daily record of the violation of these rules by the
" armies of each and every one of the allies in a greater
" or less degree. The Japs probably violated these
" rules least. It is difficult to determine who carries
" off the palm for the most flagrant violation of them,
" whether it be the French, the Russians, or the
" Germans.

" The Germans carried off the beautiful astronomical
" instruments erected on the wall of Pekin in the
"seventeenth century, which act of vandalism is in
" direct contravention of Article LVI. of the rules of
"war of the Hague Convention.

" It was agreed at the Hague Conference that ' the
" ' property of communes, that of religious, charitable,
" 'and educational institutions, and those of arts and
" ' science, even when State property, shall be treated
" ' as private property.

"'AH seizure of, and destruction, or intentional
" ' damage done to such institutions, to historical
" ' monuments, works of art or science, is prohibited,
" 'and should be made the subject of proceedings.'

" Yet look at the way the temples have been defiled
" and their religious art treasures looted !

" General Wilson, of the United States Army, says:
" ' It was but a few days till the palaces had all been
" ' ruthlessly despoiled and looted of their valuables ;
" ' but this was done mostly by Asiatic and European
" ' soldiers, much of it with the concurrence and
" ' supervision of their officers.

" ' The city was occupied and parcelled into sec-
" ' tions by the conquerors, the temples were dese-
" ' crated, and the sacred places were occupied as

320 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" ' quarters and camps without the slightest regard

"'to their religious or secular character Every

" ' Chinaman who was suspected of being a Boxer,
" ' or was seen across a field with even a hoe-handle
" ' in his possession, was shot without compunction.

"' Pillage, killing, burning, rapine, and wanton

" ' destruction of property, as was the custom of
" ' primitive men in times of war, seem to be yet a
" ' part of the practice of European and Asiatic

"'armies It was no uncommon case for the

" ' women to throw themselves into the well or into
" ' the river, to drown themselves, for fear of a worse
" ' fate. This was especially the case at Tung-Chow,
" ' where some of the foreign troops gave unbridled
" ' license to their passion for rapine, robbery, and
" ' destruction.'

" If there had been any sense of justice or fair play
"animating the Western nations, a large allowance
"should have been made in fixing the amount of
" indemnity, on account of the enormous destruction
"of property in China by the allied troops.

"A fit opening to a campaign in which the Chinese
" were to be treated throughout as savages, notwith-
" standing that they had been admitted to the Hague
" Conference, was the bombardment of the Taku Forts*
" without a declaration of war.

" General Wilson says : ' It was doubtless considered
" ' by the Chinese as tantamount to a general declara-
" ' tion of war, and as such was made the occasion, if
" ' not the excuse, for giving a free hand to the Boxers
" ' against the entire foreign colony in Pekin. The
" ' report of the surrender of the Taku Forts reached
" ' Pekin on the second day after the event, and on
" ' the same afternoon the Tsung-Li-Yamen, or Chinese
" ' Foreign Office, served notice in writing on each

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 321

"'foreign minister to leave Pekin within twenty-

" ' four hours, under promise of Chinese protection.'
" If the forts at the mouth of the Thames had been
"suddenly bombarded and demolished without any
" declaration of war by the fleet of a foreign Power,
" it is quite possible that the ministers of that Power
" in London might have fared badly at the hands of a
" London mob.

" On the morning of the 20th, Baron von Ketteler
" went to the Tsung-Li-Yamen in order to explain the
" decision of the ministers in refusing to leave, and
"was shot in the streets. In reference to this murder
" of Baron von Ketteler, the following facts should be
" borne in mind. A short time previously two men,
" ' unmistakably Boxers, were captured by the Germans
" ' brandishing their swords on Legation Street itself.
" ' The men were shot. It is believed that this preci-
" ' pitated matters.' This certainly appeared to me an
" extremely high-handed and provocative proceeding.
" What would have been thought of the Chinese
" Minister in London or Washington who would
" have shot two Englishmen or two Americans for
" ' brandishing their swords ' outside his Legation !
" There is a significant piece of evidence which goes
" to show that from this von Ketteler was a marked
" man. A report reached Shanghai, and was pub-
"lished in the papers of the 15th, that he was
"murdered on the 13th. A report was sent from
" Port Arthur by the Russian Admiral to St. Peters-
"burg, that he had been murdered on the same
"day. Yet it was only when we arrived in Pekin that
" we found he had not been murdered till the 20th.

" One of the numerous outrages which so distin-
"guished that abominable campaign, so disgraceful
" to our Western civilisation, is the massacre of over

Y

322 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

"300 helpless coolies in a junk off Taku by the
" Russians. These coolies were brought over from
" Chee-Foo to work at unloading vessels for the
" British. The junk in which they were living went
"ashore outside one of the forts occupied by the
" Russians. The Russians opened fire on them, and
" killed over 300 in cold blood.

" Now, these coolies were in British employ, yet no
" protests appear to have been made either by the
" British Admiral, whose ships were anchored within
"sight, nor has there been any diplomatic remon-
"strance, so far as I have heard. It is part of the
" nigger treatment of the unfortunate Chinese that no
"compensation should be given to the 300 families in
" Chee-Foo, of which these were the bread-winners.
" The world will never know the true history of the
" Russian campaign in Manchuria ; but the following
"glimpse contributed by Mrs. A. Little to the Times
" of July 15 is of interest : —

" You see when Gribsky telegraphed from Blago-
" vestshensk asking what was to be done, the Governor
"of Khabarowka telegraphed back: 'In war, burn

"'and destroy.' You see they just took all the

" Chinese and forced them into the river on boats
"that could not carry them, and when the women
"threw their children on shore and begged that they
"at least might be saved, the Cossacks caught
"the babies on their bayonets and cut them to
" pieces

" Then there is a photograph, taken by the request
" of the Governor, of Aigun as the Cossacks left it,
"utterly destroyed, only the great, strong chimneys
"standing upright, not one inhabitant left in it — a
"city of many thousands, I was told. Then there
" were photographs of the Chinese city of Sahaline,

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 323

" exactly opposite Blagovestschensk, as it was before
" the massacre, the finest house of the richest mer-
" chant, since dead, the curved roofs of the ornate
"temple, etc., and then, most striking of all, of the
" religious service of thanksgiving held there after
"the massacre. ' Not because of the massacre,' said
" the photographer, ' but because it had ceased to be
"' Sahaline and become a Russian outpost.' It had
"certainly ceased to be Sahaline. People there still
" declare the river was choked with the multitude of
" Chinese people — unoffending, peaceable inhabitants
" — suddenly thrown into it; and there was another
" photograph of the ruins of what had been the
" Sahaline, with a party of ladies over from Blago-
" vestschensk in the foreground enjoying the prospect,
"and the ruins still smoking behind them, again the
"solid chimneys alone upstanding. In the photo-
" graphs of the religious service there was a great
" Russian cross in the centre, and an altar and
" several popes round it. General Gribsky at the
" head of his staff on one side, and all the dignitaries
"on the other, all solemnly returning thanks to
" Almighty God that they had utterly blotted out a
"city of 5,000 or 6,000 inhabitants, who no one on
"the spot even alleges had raised a finger against the
" Russians, but who had till that time been chiefly
"engaged in driving their carts, carrying their
"burdens, and serving in their shops or houses.
" Man, woman, and child, they had been given over
"to slaughter, and, to judge by appearances, the
" same had been the case with every Chinese settle-
" ment all along the right, or Chinese side, of the
" Amur river " (pp. 303-08).

" In that, to my mind, altogether admirable system
"of Chinese punishment, where the criminals are

324 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

' hurt in punishment for their crime, and in propor-
'tion to the heinousness of it, instead of being, as
' with us, lodged in State-maintained hotels, called
' prisons, the punishment fits the crime. Therefore
'the severest punishment is for the most hideous
'crime. The most hideous crime, according to
' Chinese ideas, is deliberate parricide. Its fitting
' punishment is that which is called the Punishment
' OF A Thousand Deaths " (p. 309).

" In the Punishment of a Thousand Deaths the
' criminal is bound up, and, thus absolutely helpless,
'slices are quietly cut off his arms, his legs, and so
'on. Now, although China has committed no crime
' whatever against the West, the Punishment of a
' Thousand Deaths is being inflicted upon that unfor-
'tunate country. Great Britain first takes a bit,
' because the Chinese will not take to the consump-
'tion of a poisonous drug out of which Englishmen
' make money. Then France takes a slice ; then the
' German Emperor comes along and carves out a bit
' from the tenderest portion of the anatomy of China,
'after Japan has had its piece. Now Russia is
' taking the big, fleshly, flabby slab of Manchuria,
'and blood, in the form of this indemnity of
' ;^65, 000,000, is flowing copiously from every pro-
' vince, and will flow for the next forty-two years,
' unless the Chinese will ' take up arms against this
' 'sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them.'

" In the interests of truth and justice it is to be
' hoped that this indemnity will never be paid. If
' she stoops to our butcher-level, she can easily arm
' enough of her population to drive Westerners out
' altogether, or keep them as peddlers of their wares
' at her doorstep. The process of the Punishment of
'a Thousand Deaths thus being inflicted on this

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 325

" peaceful nation is roughly set forth in the following
"tables "(p. 310).

I have condensed the seven pages of tables in Mr.
Lynch's work into the following summary : —

Since 1840 England has robbed China of 172,129 square
miles of territory with a population of 4,468,000. Monetary
loss : $92,250,000.

Since 1858 France has robbed China of 363,130 square
miles of territory with a population of 20,940,000. Monetary
loss : $90,800,000.

Since 1685 Russia has robbed China of 1,650,310 square
miles of territory with a population of 9,500,000. Monetary
loss: $7,158,320.

Since 1861 Germany has robbed China of 200 square miles
of territory (exclusive of bay) with a population of 60,000.

Since 1873 Japan has robbed China of 13,543 square miles
of territory with a population of 2,797,543. (The abso-
lute independence of Corea recognised.) Monetary loss:
$300,750,000.

The United States has claimed no territory or indemnity,
and all American citizens are forbidden to take any part in
the opium trade. —

The above makes a total of 2,199,312 square miles of
territory, with a total population of 37,765,543. Monetary
loss: $490,958,320.

To this monetary loss must be added $325,000,000, the
indemnity of 1901, a proportion of which was payable to
each country. This makes a grand total of $815,958,320,
or 1632 tons of gold (American); or, say, over ;^i63, 000,000.
$815,958,320 at 5% = $40,797,916 = $784,575 per week.

I quote again from the admirable work of Mr.
Lynch : —

" ' If a mutual tranquillity is to subsist between
" ' the foreigners and the Chinese, the common
" ' feelings of mankind, as well as the just principles
" ' of heaven, must be considered and conformed
"'with.' In 1847 the Viceroy of Hong-Kong,
" in making a concession allowing that city to be

326 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" opened to trade, took the opportunity of writing the
"above to Sir John Davis. But that guileless China-
" man had yet to learn that ' the common feelings of
" ' humanity,' as well as ' the just principles of heaven,'
"are the very last things which actuate foreigners in
"dealing with the East" (George Lynch, War of the
Civilisations, p. 317).

" ' The extension of civilisation itself has made each
" ' generation more busy than the last, and has
" ' deepened the sense of constant anxiety and responsi-
"'bility.' This pronouncement refers only to our
" Western civilisation, which, mistaking speed for
" progress, is propelling us like a herd of Gadarene
" swine over an abyss of God knows what.

"In every book written about China references will
" be seen to our ' rights ' there. They are most fre-
" quently referred to as * treaty rights.' The real name
" for them is ' robber rights.' If a burglar, forcing his
" entrance into a house, knocks a man down in his own
" hall and holds him down, throttling him until he
" promises to let him in again, this might be called
" by various names in the West, but the promise thus
"exacted in the East is called 'treaty rights.'

" Out of this vast scene of war and terrible rapine it
" would be an agreeable recollection if one could think
"that some of the missionaries raised their voices
" in merciful protest against the outrages committed
" by the allied soldiery. But no such voice was heard.
" They stood by, silent spectators of this crucifixion
" of Christianity. General Gaselee and his officers
"were unceasingly active in restraining the soldiers
"under their command. General Chaffee went
" farther, and is said to have sent a letter of protest to
" Count von Waldersee on the conduct of some of the
" Germans. I would feel curious to see the text of the

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 327

" letter which that fine type of a blunt, old war-soldier
" wrote. I can never imagine him writing or
"speaking anything except just plainly what he
" thought. When his letter was returned to him by
" the Field-Marshal, I feel sure that any apology he
" may have made was for the form and not for the
" substance of what he wrote.

" Looking back on the entire prospect of this
" campaign, there is no question that the cause of
" Christianity has thereby received a severe set-back.
"The hatred which the Chinese felt for foreigners is
" now immensely intensified ; and slow as was any
" real progress of Christianity in China before, it will
" undoubtedly be slower still in the years immediately
"to come.

" Within the radius of an eighteenpenny cab-fare
"from where I write, I think there is plenty of
"spiritually productive work for all the missionaries
" in China. And within the radius I speak of they
" would not first have the task of weaning the people
"away from the doctrines of tonfucius or * Buddha,
" ' him all-wisest, best, most pitiful, whose lips
" ' comfort the world ' ; the very breathing — the life —
"of their social, as well as spiritual, being. When
"the Chinese see the German Emperor using mission-
"aries as livebait to catch a province, and the French
" insisting upon being given another as the price of a
" few members of one of those religious orders they
"have expelled from France, it is no wonder that
" from that stricken, bullied, cheated people the cry
" goes up to the empty heavens : — '

To my own gods I go.

It may be they shall give me greater ease

Than your cold Christ and tangled Trinities "

{Ibid., pp. 317-19)-

328 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

First and last we have heard a great deal about
international law, and doubtless many suppose that
international law is something tangible ; something
that has a real existence and applies to the relations
between different countries of the world. As a
matter of fact, however, international law, as such,
has not and never had any real existence. It is quite
possible that the theoretical rules of warfare might be
observed in a case where both nations were of the
same race, had the same superstitions, and spoke the
same language. As an example, if Canada should be
invaded by an American army all of the rules and
regulations laid down by the Hague Convention
would be strictly observed ; but if Mexico were
invaded by the same army, the rules would not be so
strictly adhered to on account of the difference in race,
religion, and language. In the war of the great
American rebellion the North observed the rules of
war, but the South often murdered prisoners of war
■ in cold blood, and starved many of them to death.

A few years ago, when Greece declared war on
Turkey, the Turkish-Mohammedan army of invasion
observed all the rules of the Hague Convention to
the very letter ; but in the last war of the various
kinds of Christians against the Mohammedans the
Christians had very little respect for the laws of war.

In the warfare of the Christian nations upon
China all the conventional rules and regulations
that were supposed to control the actions of civilised
nations were thrown to the winds by the allied armies.
Not one of the conventional rules of civilised warfare
was observed. The conduct of the Christian troops
in China was worse than that of any barbarous nation
to be found in history. Our soldiers killed men,
women, and children indiscriminately ; destroyed

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 329

private property, and looted and burned the homes of
the poor and the palaces of the rich. Their conduct
towards the Chinese ladies was so atrocious that it
cannot be described in words — nothing could have
been worse. We can only shudder when we think
of it.

Finally, let me give a few extracts from Ingersoll
in regard to the Chinese in America. They will
show the saner and nobler attitude of the Freethinker,
who has no Christian bias to justify him in wrong-
doing : —

"In our country, as a matter of fact, there is but
" little prejudice against emigrants coming from
" Europe, except among naturalised citizens ; but
" nearly all foreign-born citizens are united in their
" prejudice against the Chinese. The truth is that
"the Chinese came to this country by invitation.
" Under the Burlingame Treaty, China and the
" United States recognised : —

" ' The inherent and inalienable right of man to
" ' change his home and allegiance, and also the
" ' mutual advantage of free migration and emigra-
" ' tion of their citizens and subjects respectively from
" ' one country to the other for purposes of curiosity,
" ' of trade, or as permanent residents.'

" And it was provided : —

" ' That the citizens of the United States visiting or
" ' residing in China, and Chinese subjects visiting or
" ' residing in the United States, should reciprocally
" ' enjoy the same privileges, immunities, and exemp-
" ' tions, in respect to travel or residence, as shall be
" ' enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of the most
" ' favoured nation, in the country in which they shall
" ' respectively be visiting or residing.'

33° EUROPEANS IN CHINA

" So by the treaty of 1880, providing for the limita-
" tion or suspension of emigration of Chinese labour,
" it was declared : —

" ' That the limitation or suspension should apply
" ' only to Chinese who emigrated to the United
" ' States as labourers ; but that Chinese labourers
" ' who were then in the United States should be
" ' allowed to go and come of their own free will,
" ' and should be accorded all the rights, privileges,
" ' immunities, and exemptions which were accorded
" ' to the citizens and subjects of the most favoured
" ' nations.'

" It will thus be seen that all Chinese labourers who
"came to this country prior to the treaty of 1880 were
" to be treated the same as the citizens and subjects of
" the most favoured nation ; that is to say, they were
" to be protected by our laws the same as we protect
"our own citizens.

" These Chinese labourers are inoffensive, peaceable,
"and law-abiding. They are honest, keeping their
"contracts, doing as they agree. They are exceed-
" ingly industrious, always ready to work, and always
" giving satisfaction to their employers. They do not
" interfere with other people. They cannot become
" citizens. They have no voice in the making or the
"execution of the laws. They attend to their own
"business. They have their own ideas, customs,
" religion, and ceremonies — about as foolish as our
" own ; but they do not try to make converts or to
"force their dogmas on others. They are patient,
" uncomplaining, stoical, and philosophical. They
"earn what they can, giving reasonable value for
" the money they receive ; and, as a rule, when they
" have amassed a few thousand dollars, they go back
" to their own country. They do not interfere with

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 331

"our ideas, our ways, or customs. They are silent
"workers, toiling without any object except to do
" their work and get their pay. They do not establish
"saloons and run for Congress. Neither do they
" combine for the purpose of governing others. Of
" all the people on our soil they are the least meddle-
" some. Some of them smoke opium ; but the opium-
" smoker does not beat his wife. Some of them play
" games of chance ; but they are not members of the
"Stock Exchange. They eat the bread that they
" earn ; they neither beg nor steal ; but they are no
" use to parties or politicians, except as they become
" fuel to supply the flame of prejudice. They are not
"citizens, and they cannot vote. Their employers are
" about the only friends they have.

" In the Pacific States the lowest became their
" enemies, and asked for their expulsion. They
" denounced the Chinese, and those who gave them
" work. The patient followers of Confucius were
"treated as outcasts — stoned by boys in the streets
" and mobbed by the fathers. Few seemed to have
" any respect for their rights or their feelings. They
"were unlike us; they wore different clothes; they
"dressed their hair in a peculiar way — and therefore
"they were beyond our syrhpathies. These ideas,
" these practices, demoralised many communities ;
" the labouring people became cruel, and the small
" politicians infamous.

" When the rights of even one human being are
"held in contempt, the rights of all are in danger.
" We cannot destroy the liberties of others without
" losing our own. By exciting the prejudices of the
" ignorant, we at last produce a contempt for law and
"justice, and sow the seeds of violence and crime.

" Both of the great political parties pandered to the

332 EUROPEANS IN CHINA

"leaders of the crusade against the Chinese for the
" sake of electoral votes, and in the Pacific States the
" friends of the Chinese were forced to keep still or to
"publicly speak contrary to their convictions. The
" orators of the ' Sand Lots ' were in power, and the
"policy of the whole country was dictated by the
" most ignorant and prejudiced of our citizens. Both
"of the great parties ratified the outrages committed
" by the mobs, and proceeded with alacrity to violate
" the treaties and solemn obligations of the Govern-
" ment. These treaties were violated, these obliga-
" tions were denied, and thousands of Chinamen were
"deprived of their rights, of their property, and
" hundreds were maimed or murdered. They were
" driven from their homes ; they were hunted like
"wild beasts. All this was done in a country that
"sends missionaries to China to tell the benighted
" savages of the blessed religion of the United States "
(Ingersoll's Works, Vol. XI, pp. 358-61).

" The idea of imprisoning a man at hard labour for
" a year — and this man a citizen of a friendly nation —
" for the crime of being found in this country without
"a certificate of residence must be abhorrent to the
" mind of every enlightened man. Such punishment
" for such an ' offence ' is barbarous, and belongs to
" the earliest times of which we know " {Ibid., p. 362).

"The Chinese are not driven away because there, is
" no room for them. Our country is not crowded ;
"there are many millions of acres waiting for the
"plough. There is plenty of room here under our
"flag for five hundred millions of people. These
" Chinese that we wish to oppress and imprison are
" people who understand the art of irrigation. They
"can redeem the deserts. They are the best of
" gardeners ; they are modest, and willing to occupy

EUROPEANS IN CHINA 333

" the lowest seats ; they only ask to be day-labourers,
" washers and ironers ; they are willing to sweep and
" scrub ; they are good cooks ; they can clear lands
" and build railroads. They do not ask to be masters
" — they wish only to serve. In every capacity they
"are faithful; but in this country their virtues have
" made enemies, and they are hated because of their
"patience, their honesty, and their industry" {Ibid.,

P- 363)-

" Russia is earning the hatred of the civilised world
" by driving the Jews from their homes. But what
" can the United States say ? Our mouths are closed
" by the Geary Law. We are in the same business.
" Our law is as inhuman as the order or ukase of the
" Czar.

"Let us retrace our steps, repeal the law, and
" accomplish what we justly desire by civilised means.
" Let us treat China as we would England ; and,
" above all, let us respect the rights of men " {Ibid. ,
P- 365)-

HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES
IN CHINA

Christianity in the past has been very destructive
of human life in Europe, and the principal reason
why so many lives have been lost and so much harm
done by this religion is because of the dense ignorance
and natural superstition of the people of that time.
If Christianity should get a firm foothold in China, it
would without doubt be very expensive to the Chinese
nation, and result in the loss of a great number of
lives ; but in the very nature of things it could not
prove so destructive as it did in Europe. The Chinese
are already a very highly civilised nation, and by no
means so superstitious as we were in the Middle Ages.
Still, if the introduction of Christianity is not con-
trolled, it will cost the Chinese many lives and much
territory.

Of course, the best thing would be to have all the
missionaries withdrawn and kept out of the country,
exactly as the Russians do ; but China is not pre-
pared, at the present time at least, to adopt the
measures which have proved so successful in Russia.
She is unable to do the right thing because she is not
prepared to enforce her rights with the sword.

As it is not expedient at the present time to attempt
to expel the missionaries altogether, some other
means of dealing with them must be found. " What
"cannot be cured must be endured." Why should
not the Chinese follow the example of the Japanese,
ignore the existence of the missionaries, and instruct
the people — even though it cost a lot of money to do

334

HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA 335

so — that the proper way to deal with foreign mission-
aries is to leave them entirely alone, to have nothing
whatever to do with them, and to boycott every native
who has intercourse with them ?

Let us say, for example, that there are ten thousand
missionaries in China. Allow ten thousand of the
educated literary class to follow these missionaries,
wherever they may go, with a simple literature in the
form of pamphlets for the natives, instructing them
as to the true character and history of Christianity,
pointing out the great harm and loss of life that has
taken place in Europe on account of its ravages,
advising everyone to abstain from having anything
whatever to do with the missionaries, and by no
means to insult or attack them, or interfere in the
least with their property. A system like this might
prevent foreign potentates from fishing in China with
live bait — that is to say, missionary bait — as the
Germans have already done.

It certainly would not be very expensive for a great
nation like China to ensure her well-being by employ-
ing a staff of learned men to counteract the influence
of missionaries in a sensible manner, absolutely free
from all attacks upon either persons or property. The
common people should be instructed that there is a
considerable number of so-called Christian nations
which, on account of the high development they have
reached in the art of war, are able to inflict very
serious injury upon China, and that it is highly
expedient that China should not come into conflict
with these powerful fighting nations. It should be
explained that the missionaries are to a considerable
extent used as decoys to entrap the Chinese, to cause
trouble, and to give an excuse for an invasion of China,
a seizure of her territory, and a demand of very heavy

336 HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA

indemnities from the Chinese. That the wars which
have heretofore been forced upon China have been
brought about by attacks of the Chinese upon mission-
aries is a well-known fact; and, although the mission-
aries have formed the excuse for the war, these attacks
have really been wars of spoliation.

The people should be told that there are some
hundreds of kinds of Christianity, but that they all
originated in Northern India and Western Asia many
thousand years ago, and that the system which was
evolved at that distant date was many years later taken
up by a certain class of men in Rome, where the
stories of the Virgin Birth, the man-God, the Cruci-
fixion, and the Resurrection were all retold and attri-
buted to someone who was alleged to have lived in
Asia Minor only a few hundred years before. It
should also be pointed out that Christianity has been
very destructive of human life in Europe ; that at its
instigation hundreds of thousands of innocent people
have been burnt alive, some historians even claiming
that more than a thousand millions of mankind have
lost their lives on account of Christianity ; and that
the creed rests on a belief that the world was only
created about six thousand years ago, whereas China
was a civilised country long before that date. The
Bible teaches that there was a flood that envel-
oped the whole earth, above the highest moun-
tains, during the reign of a certain emperor. As
the flood did not reach China, it is positive evi-
dence that it never occurred. The Jesus Christ
from whom Christianity derives its name does not
differ in any material • degree from Jeseus Chrisna,
who was alleged to have lived fully two thousand
years earlier, and of whom full accounts will be found
in Eastern literature.

The Incarnation of Krishna and the 'Wondepful
Events that Followed.

Historians tell us that about 500 b.c. incarnations in Northern
India and China were innumerable. One of the most remarlc-
able was that of Krishna, the man-god of the Hindus. Kansa,
the reigning sovereign at the time, was told by a fortune-teller
that the eighth son of his sister Devaki would usurp his throne.
In order to defeat this he attempted to kill all the children of
his sister. Ultimately Devaki conceived of the god Vishnu
(the Holy Ghost of the story), and when Krishna was born he
was able to converse intelligently at once, comforting his motlior
and giving some very excellent advice to his step-father, Vasudeva
(the Joseph of the story). As a temporary expedient the mother
exchanged Krishna for a girl baby. This answered the purpose
\ery well for a time, but later on Vasudeva took him into a
distant country. This was an excellent move, because shortly
after Kansa (the Herod of the story) ordered that all the babies
in the Empire should be killed, and this order was carried out
(the Slaughter of the Innocents). Soon after, Kansa, learning
that the god-baby had escaped, made many attempts upon his
life : " A demon nurse was sent to poison him with her venomous
"milk.'' The step-father then decided to move him into a still
more distant countr}', but again he was pursued : " Krishna
" slew the huge serpent, Kali-naga, overcame the giant, Shishoo-
" polu, killed the monster bird that tried to peck out his eyes, and
"also a malignant wild ass. He also burnt the entrails of the
•■ alligator-shaped Peck-Assoort, who had devoured him, and
" choked Aghi-Assoor, the dragon who attempted to swallow him.
" When Krishna had grown to youth he became the favourite of
" the lasses of Gokula. When he played the flute every one of the
■' dancing girls believed that the swain whom she embraced was
" Krishna himself." Ultimately Krishna raised an army, marched
against Kansa, killed him, and took possession of his throne.

This is the original story of Krishna in the rough, as it was
told twenty-four centuries ago. Later on it was greatly enlarged
and improved upon, and with Buddhism and Paganism became
-a part of the potpourri of Christianity.

To face p. 336.

HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA 337

The Chinese should also be taught that the Christian
religion is wholly based on a belief in miracles and
devils, and that, according to the teachings of the
Bible, the Christ of the Scriptures spent the greater
part of his time wandering about the country and
casting out devils ; that the devil is, in reality, the
keystone of the arch.

Another point that should be presented in the
strongest possible language is the fact that only a
small proportion of the population of the so-called
Christian countries believe the Bible, or accept the
teachings of Christianity ; that both Europe and
America are fast outgrowing their ancient super-
stitions ; and that the wisest and best men of Western
Europe and America have already discarded nearly
everything that is taught by the missionaries. They
refuse to believe in the existence of angels, ghosts,
spooks, demons, and devils. They ridicule a belief
in talking snakes and jackasses, and, in fact, in all
the snake and fish stories in the Bible. They have
plenty of evidence that the world is millions of years
old instead of only six thousand. This, of course,
does away with the creation story and the fall of man,
and renders the atonement and redemption at a later
date unnecessary. Very few of the intellectual or
educated class in Europe and America will now accept
the doctrine of a virgin birth, the belief among cul-
tured people being that everyone needs a human
father.

Some of the highest officials in the Established
Church of England have admitted that Jesus Christ
is not an historical character, and that there is abso-
lutely no authentic reference to him in history. It
has been pointed out many times that, although there

were many learned men, historians, poets, and artists

z

338 HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA

at the time, no mention was made of his existence ;
that the Jews, who have a very clear and complete
history of the time, never heard of him ; and that the
Mohammedans, who are now in possession of the
Christian Holy Land, claim that such a personage
never existed. The only historical works in which
Jesus Christ is mentioned are those of Josephus
and Tacitus, and the passages are now generally
acknowledged to be pure interpolations, or to
have been ingeniously manipulated by Christian
apologists.

I am fully aware of the fact that the unread and
ignorant believers who are not au courant with reli-
gious literature will denounce me as "an Atheist,
Infidel, Agnostic," etc. — terms that sound very bad
to them, but have very little dread for me. By the
following few extracts from the highest theologians
of the day it will be seen that I am in good com-
pany, and that the position I have taken up does not
differ, in any material degree, from that of the most
advanced theologians of our time. It is a fact that
very few of the educated — clergymen or otherwise —
believe in the miracles found in the Bible. A well-
informed clergyman has written to me as follows : —

" Dear Sir Hiram, — The enclosed quotations are
" only a few out of a great multitude that might be
"made from the writings of theologians who have
" entirely repudiated the old orthodox teaching con-
"cerning God, Christ, man, and the Bible. Indeed,
" the difficulty to-day is to find one Christian scholar

" who still retains the ancient views Even in the

" Catholic Church practically every thinker is a
" Modernist. During the present pontificate they are
" forced to keep silence, but they are working under-
" ground all the time

Bible Pictures.

(See Mark v.)

Christ Transfers 2,000 Devils from one Man into

2,000 Pigs — Christ Casts 2,000 Devils out

OF two Men into 2,000 Pigs.

When Jesus landed in the Gadarene country he found
a poor nian sorely afflicted. He had inside of him about
2,000 devils, and these naturally made him very uncom-
fortable. He besought Jesus to cast them out, but tlie
devils pretended to be satisfied with their quarters ; still,
they agreed to vacate, providing Jesus would allow them
to enter the bodies of 2,000 swine that were feeding on
the sides of the mountain. Jesus consented, and the
illustration shows the devils pouring out of the man in
a steady stream. They appear to be about as large as
the man himself, and in the centre of the picture the
swine can be seen plunging in a perfect cataract into
the sea. Some Chinamen may be wicked enougli to
ask how it was possible for 2,000 devils, each as big as
the man himself, to be stored away in the body of one
man ; but reason is not a part of our religion.

In our sacred scriptures according to Matthew there
were two men afflicted witli devils ; therefore each man
harboured 1,000 devils.

This story may be believed with a fair amount of
faith ; but it requires a very strong faith to believe the
story according to Mark. However, we have among
us many with a faith sufficiently robust to believe both
stories, which would be altogether too much to expect
of a Chinaman.

To face p. 3,^8.

HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA 339

"Significant Admissions by first-rate Biblical
" Scholars.

" 1.— The Bible.

"The Rev. S. R. Driver, D.D., Regius Professor of
" Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, accepts
" the scientific view of man's origin, saying : ' During
" ' the last half-century or so relics of human work-
" ' manship have been found, chiefly in England,
" ' Belgium, and France, but also in other parts of
" * the world, including America, showing that man
" ' in a rude and primitive stage of development
" ' ranged through the forests and river-valleys of
"'these continents, in company with mammals now
" ' extinct, at an age which cannot indeed be
" 'measured precisely in years B.C., but which, upon
" ' the most moderate estimate, cannot be less than
" ' 20,000 years from the present day ' {The Book of
" Genesis, pp. xxxii-xxxiii).

" Having furnished several other proofs of man's
" antiquity, this erudite divine observes : —

" ' In what light, then, in view of this conclusion,
" ' are we to view the representation contained in the
"'early chapters of Genesis? The facts cannot be
" * denied ; yet the narrative of Genesis takes no
" ' account of them, and, indeed, leaves no room for
" ' them. The great antiquity of man, the stages of
" ' culture through which he passed, and the wide
" ' distribution of the human species, with strongly
" ' marked racial differences, over the surface of the
" ' earth, are all alike unexplained and inexplicable,

" ' upon the historical system of Genesis i-xi We

" ' are forced, therefore, to the conclusion that though,
" ' as may be safely assumed, the writers to whom we
" ' owe the first eleven chapters of Genesis report

340 HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA

" ^faithfully •what was currently believed among the
" ' Hebrews respecting the early history of mankind,
" * at the same time making their narratives the
" ' vehicle of many moral and spiritual lessons, yet
" ' there was much which they did not know, and could
" ' not take cognisance of; these chapters, conse-
" ' quently, we are obliged to conclude, incomparable
" ' as they are in other respects, contain no account of
" ' the real beginnings, either of the earth itself, or
"'of man and human civilisation upon it' {Ibid.,
p. xlii).

" Canon Driver does not hesitate to point out the
" utter unhistoricity of many other events recorded in
"the Book of Genesis, such as the flood, the tower of
" Babel, and most of chapter xiv. The Rev. George
"Adam Smith, D.D., LL.D., Principal of Aberdeen
" University, one of the greatest living authorities on
" Biblical criticism, frankly admits that the history of
"the Jews contained in the Old Testament is largely
" unreliable. For example, the two Samuels and the
" two Kings are almost constantly contradicted in the
" two Chronicles. Principal Smith refers to the
" numerous attempts which preachers used to make
" to reconcile ' the double and sometimes contra-
" ' dictory stories of David's life — for instance, the two
" ' very different accounts of his first introduction to
" ' Saul ' :—

" ' Their attempts to reconcile these involved — even
" ' when one thought that they had succeeded — so
" ' much intricate explanation as to distract them from
" ' the clear presentation of the moral issues, which it
" ' was their first duty as preachers to present and
" ' enforce to their people. But they did not succeed.
" ' The stories are irreconcilable ' " {Modern Crilicism
and the Preaching of the Old Testament, pp. 78-79).

Bible Plctupes.

The Devil Places Christ on the Top of an Ex-
ceedingly High Mountain — The Devil Places
Christ on a Pinnacle of the Temple.

From our Holy Scriptures we are able to gather a fair
knowledge of the events that occurred in the Holy
Land at the time that our Saviour was upon earth. It
seems that he used to travel about the country to a con-
siderable extent, sometimes in the company of the
Devil. Our Saviour was not provided with wings ; but
the Devil, who had wings, occasionally gave him a fly,
as will be seen by the following : "And the Devil,
" taking hiin up into a high mountain, shewed unto him
" all the kingdoms of the world in a moinent of time.
"And the Devil said unto him, 'All this power will I
" ' give thee, and the glory of them : for that is delivered
" ' unto me ; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou
" ' wilt worship me, all shall be thine '" (Luke iv, 5-7).
" And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a
" ' pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, ' If thou be
" ' the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence ' ''
(Luke iv, 9).

The attention of my Chinese readers is particularly
called to' the above. It will be observed that the Devil,
in the presence of God himself, claimed the ownership
of all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them,
and that God did not dispute his claim. There is,
therefore, every reason wh}- the Devil should occup\'
first place in the Christian religion.

To face p. 341

1 1 f fiJ,

HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA 341

" 2. — Jesus Christ.

" One of the most distinguished New Testament
" critics is Dr. Paul W. Schmiedel, Professor of
" Theology at Zurich, and it is a well-known fact that
" he regards the major portion of the material found
" in the four Gospels as purely legendary. He says : —

" ' Doubts as to the reliability of our authorities
" * have recently increased to such an extent that for
" ' about six years the view that Jesus Christ never
" ' really lived has gained an ever-growing number of
" ' supporters. It is no use to ignore it, or to frame
" ' resolutions against it in meetings of non-theo-
" ' logians. It is little use merely to say in a vague
" ' way that the figure of Jesus as portrayed in the
" ' Gospels could not possibly have been invented.
" * In the case of the fourth Gospel, a school of
" ' theology of a seriously scientific character does not
" ' itself make this contention ; and since it finds very
" ' much even in the first three Gospels that is a
" ' product of later myth-making, it may easily seem
" ' that the advance would not be so very great if the
" ' whole record of Jesus's life were referred to the
" ' domain of myth.

" ' If we found witnesses to Jesus among non-Chris-
" ' tian writers, we should have absolutely certain
" ' proof of his existence. But it is not certain that
" ' the Jewish historian Josephus, in the year 93 or 94,
" ' really refers to him ; and the earliest mention of
"'him as a person by heathen writers in the years
" * 112-20 — that is to say, eighty or more years after
" ' his death, are far too late to preclude a doubter
" ' from saying- that during these years, supposing that
"'Jesus had not existed as a 'real historical person,
" ' there was time enough for a complete legend to

342 HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA

' spring up about him — a legend that, as early as the
' days in which these heathen historians wrote, must
' have seemed credible to them ' {Jesus in Modern
Criticism, pp. 12-14).

" Professors Schmiedel, Harnack, and Bacon, Dr.
Arno Neumann, and a host of other front-rank
Christian scholars, do believe in a historical Jesus ;
but they carefully weed out of the Gospel narratives
all allusions to his divinity, and all miracles alleged
to be performed for the purpose of proving his
divinity, or that implied the employment of super-
natural power. They explain the genealogies of
Matthew and Luke as ' artificial ' attempts to support
the popular belief, originating probably with Paul,
that Jesus descended from the house and family of
David. Dr. Neumann describes them thus : —
" ' The fact of their contradicting one another is
' already sufficient proof that they are unhistorical ;
' and the suggestion that one gives the ancestors of

* Joseph, the other those of Mary, cannot be accepted
' as a valid defence. For they both say definitely
' that their purpose is to give the ancestors of Joseph ;
' and, besides, Mary, the relative of the Aaronitess
' Elizabeth (Luke i, 36), can only be thought of as
' being of Aaronite descent and of the tribe of Levi,

* not as of Davidic origin and of the tribe of Judah.
' But even in the original form, in which they no
' longer exist (having been at an early date inter-

* polated by additions in support of the doctrine of
' the Virgin Birth), these genealogies were entirely
'artificial — in Matthew, indeed, mere experiments
' with the sacred number 7 and with names and
'genealogies in the Old Testament. In their
' present form, by means of additions (Matthew
' i, 16 ; Luke iii, 23), they have been adapted to

HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA 343

"'the doctrine of the Virgin Birth'" {Jesus,
pp. 21-22).

It is said by those who have made a thorough
study of the subject that nothing was written con-
cerning Christ until some hundreds of years after he
was supposed to have lived. It is therefore very
difficult for one to express a definite opinion on the
subject. The strongest evidence, however, is derived
from the fact that the same story which was compiled
in regard to him many years after his alleged death is
found almost exactly in the life of more than one
Saviour fully described in works that are very much
older.

Perhaps nothing has ever been advanced by the
critics of the New Testament that has proved such
a thorn in the flesh to the true believer as the follow-
ing, which was written more than a hundred years
ago by one of the cleverest men that ever lived. The
reasoning and logic are so sound as to leave abso-
lutely no chance for escape. Thousands have
attempted some kind of an explanation, but all
have been dead failures, leaving nothing but the
usual weapons of orthodoxy — personal abuse and
falsehood, which have been practised to an extent
which is almost unbelievable : —

"The history of Jesus Christ is contained in the
"four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
"John. The first chapter of Matthew begins with
" giving a genealogy of Jesus Christ ; and in the
" third chapter of Luke there is also given a gene-
"alogy of Jesus Christ. Did these two agree, it
" would not prove the genealogy to be true, because
" it might nevertheless be a fabrication ; but if they
"contradict each other in every particular, it proves

344 HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA

" falsehood absolutely. If Matthew speak truth, Luke
" speaks falsehood ; and if Luke speak truth, Matthew
" speaks falsehood ; and as there is no authority for
"believing one more than the other, there is no
" authority for believing either ; and if they cannot
" be believed even in the very first thing they say
"and set out to prove, they are not entitled to be
" believed in anything they say afterwards. Truth is
" an uniform thing ; and as to inspiration and revela-
"tion, were we to admit it, it is impossible to suppose
" it can be contradictory. Either, then, the men called
" apostles were impostors, or the books ascribed to
"them have been written by other persons and
"fathered upon them, as is the case in the Old
" Testament.

" The book of Matthew gives (i, 6) a genealogy
"by name from David, up through Joseph the
" husband of Mary, to Christ — and makes there to
" be twenty-eight generations. The book of Luke
" gives also a genealogy by name from Christ,
"through Joseph the husband of Mary, down to
" David — and makes there to be forty-three genera-
" tions ; besides which there are only the two names
" of David and Joseph that are alike in the two lists.
" I here insert both genealogical lists, and for the
"sake of perspicuity and comparison have placed
" them both in the same division — that is, from
" Joseph down to David : —

Genealogy according to Genealogy according to

Matthew. Luke.

Christ. Christ.

2. Joseph. 2. Joseph.

3. Jacob. 3. Heli.

4. Matthan. 4. Matthat.

5. Eleazer, 5. Levi,

HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA 345

6. Eliud.

7. Achim.

8. Sadoc.

9. Azor.

10. Aliakim.

11. Abiud.

12. Zorobabel.

13. Salathiel.

14. Jechonas.

15. Josias.

16. Amon.

17. Manasses.

18. Ezekias.

19. Achaz.

20. Joatham.

21. Ozias.

22. Joram.

23. Josaphat.

24. Asa.

25. Abia.

26. Roboam.

27. Solomon.

28. David.

6. Melchi.

7. Janna.

8. Joseph.

9. Mattathias.

10. Amos.

11. Naum.

12. Esli.

13. Nagge.

14. Maath.

15. Mattathias.

16. Semei.

17. Joseph.

18. Juda.

19. Joanna.

20. Rhesa.

21. Zorobabel.

22. Salathiel.

23. Neri.

24. Melchi.

25. Addi.

26. Cosam.

27. Elmodam.

28. Er.

29. Jose.

30. Eliezer.

31. Jorim.

32. Matthat.

33. Levi.

34. Simeon.
35- Juda.

36. Joseph.

37. Jonan.

38. Eliakim.

39. Melea.

40. Menan.

41. Mattatha.

42. Nathan.

43. David.

" From the birth of David to the birth of Christ is
upwards of 1,080 years; and as the lifetime of

346 HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA

" Christ is not included, there are but twenty-seven
"full generations. To find, therefore, the average
"age of each person mentioned in the first list at
" the time his first son was born it is only necessary
"to divide i,o8o by 27, which gives forty years for
"each person. As the lifetime of man was then but
" of the same extent it is now, it is an absurdity to
"suppose that twenty following generations should
" all be old bachelors before they married ; and the
" more so when we are told that Solomon, the next
"in succession to David, had a house full of wives
"and mistresses before he was twenty-one years of
" age. So far from this genealogy being a solemn
"truth, it is not even a reasonable lie. The list of
" Luke gives about twenty-six years for the average
"age, and this is too much.

" Now, if these men, Matthew and Luke, set out
"with a falsehood between them (as these two
"accounts show they do) in the very commencement
" of their history of Jesus Christ, and of who and of
" what he was, what authority (as I have before asked)
" is there left for believing the strange things they tell
" us afterwards ? If they cannot be believed in their
"account of his natural genealogy, how are we to
" believe them when they tell us he was the Son of
" God, begotten by a ghost, and that an angel
"announced this in secret to his mother? If they
" lied in one genealogy, why are we to believe them
" in the other ? If his natural genealogy be manu-
" factured, which it certainly is, why are we not to
" suppose that his celestial genealogy is manufactured
" also, and that the whole is fabulous ? Can any
" man of serious reflection hazard his future happiness
" upon the belief of a story naturally impossible,
" repugnant to every idea of decency, and related by

HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA 347

"persons already detected of falsehood? Is it not
" more safe that we stop ourselves at the plain, pure,
"and unmixed belief of one God, which is deism,
"than that we commit ourselves on an ocean of
" improbable, irrational, indecent, and contradictory
"tales?" (Thomas Paine, Age of Reason, pp. 69-70).

For more than a hundred years the Christian
apologists have been attempting to discover some
way out of this manifest contradiction. Many and
various systems have been tried, all of which have
been utterly futile ; but they are not discouraged,
they are still working on the problem. If, however,
the missionaries could be persuaded to give the
Chinese a truce until these two accounts are made to
agree, there would be plenty of time for the Chinese
to recuperate. There would be no more bloodshed
in China on account of missionaries, enough having
already been spilled to amply satisfy the most blood-
thirsty of gods. According to our blessed religion,
there is no remission of sins except by the shedding
of blood ; while the Chinese on their part claim that
there can be no remission of sins so long as we
persist in shedding the blood of our fellow man.
Who is right?

As the present scientific and learned men of Europe
and America have already repudiated the belief in
ghosts and devils — in fact, everything of a super-
natural nature — and believe that the world came into
existence according to natural law, it will be seen
that their present belief is practically the same as
that of Confucius. If we believe as Confucius taught,
we are Confucians ; and according to this way of
putting it there are vastly more Confucians in Europe
and America than Christian converts in all the rest

3^8 HOW TO DEAL WITH MISSIONARIES IN CHINA

of the world. While the missionaries in China are
securing one convert to their way of believing, Con-
fucianism makes a hundred, at least, in Christendom.
The common Chinese people, who, on account of
their ignorance, are liable to have trouble with the
missionaries, should be instructed to let well enough
alone, and should be comforted by the fact that
Confucianism is reaping a much greater success in
the West than Christianity in the East. Let nature
take its course, therefore, and do not assist the
missionary cause in China by assaulting the mis-
sionaries.

MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS

From the foregoing it will be seen that the mis-
sionaries have done an infinite amount of harm in
China. They have saddled that great nation with an
enormous debt, and have caused millions of lives to
be destroyed. But the mischief done to China is in-
finitesimal in comparison with the mischief that has
been done elsewhere, especially on the islands of the
Pacific and in South America, if we consider the
subject from a mathematical standpoint. The destruc-
tion of life in China on account of missionary enter-
prise amounts only to about four per cent, of the
population, while on many of the Pacific islands
nearly the whole of the population has perished.

The Sandwich Islands, before their discovery by
Captain Cook, were the most delightful places in
the world, and the most favourable to human life.
The climate was perfect all the year round, the
land extremely fertile, and there was in the sea an
abundance of fish. There was not a contagious
disease of any kind, and biting insects and snakes
were totally unknown. The islands at that time
contained a population of 600,000. They had a very
simple religion and a wooden god. If their god
did not grant them all they demanded, they simply
destroyed him and made another. The temperature
was such that clothes were not required, and nowhere
on the face of the earth would it have been possible
to find a community of the same size where the people
were so happy and life was so enjoyable. The prob-

349

35° MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS

abilities are that nothing of the kind will ever happen
again.

We sent to these " poor benighted heathens " our
missionaries. They introduced clothes, stove-pipe
hats, hoop skirts, paper collars, Bibles, playing cards,
and hymn-books. These were followed by tobacco,
rum, and whisky. They also introduced various
insects and two unspeakable diseases which cannot
be mentioned in polite society. These killed a good
many natives ; but to complete the disaster measles
was introduced, and this disease alone killed off
three-quarters of the population in a very short time.

When Mark Twain visited the Islands some years
later he found that the population had been reduced
from 600,000 to 60,000. I have recently been in-
formed, by one who claims to know, that the number
of natives at the present time does not exceed 6,000.
Of course, this is justified by the missionaries, who
claim that life on this planet is only transient, and is
nothing in comparison with the life to come. For-
merly all these innocent, happy people lost their
souls ; but after the advent of Christianity a few of
them managed to have their souls saved, and so
slither into heaven.

What has happened on the Sandwich Islands is a
type of what has taken place on the numerous smaller
islands of the Pacific. Measles and other Christian
diseases, with rum, religion, and tobacco, kill off
about ninety per cent, of the population in a few
years.

Converts are cheaper in Madagascar than in any
other part of the world. Mr. Tacchi, one of the lead-
ing missionaries, told me that the natives would attend
church three times a day on Sunday for what they call
" a cash " — a little cube cut out of an American trade

MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS 351

dollar (720 to the dollar). He told me of a congre-
gation of 720 earnest converts who could be relied
upon to attend church three times every Sunday for
a cash each. On one occasion he failed to pay, and
the natives reported him to the British Consul. They
claimed that they had been cheated and swindled, and
they demanded satisfaction. Since that time the island
has been taken by the French, and the great majority
of Protestant missionaries have had to vacate the
premises. The ways of the Lord are indeed mys-
terious !

A few years ago a lot of female missionaries, of the
screeching-sisterhood variety, learned that the Esqui-
maux of Labrador managed to dispense with clothes
in their hot little huts. They made them a lot of
thick woollen pyjamas, which they asked them to wear
for decency's sake ; and by this change bronchitis was
introduced, and seventy-five per cent, of the men lost
their lives.

A tribe of fair-haired, blue-eyed white men has
recently been discovered in the extreme North by
Captain V. Stefannsen. It bears no resemblance,
however, to the Esquimaux. The mode of life of the
people fits them exactly for their environment, and
their discoverer has already petitioned the Canadian
Government to protect them against the invasion of
missionaries, pointing out that measles and a few
other diseases which always accompany the missionary
would probably kill more than three-quarters of these
harmless people, as has been the case in many other
places. Nevertheless, the missionaries are bound not
to miss their prey. A movement is already on foot
to send missionaries to the extreme North to convert
and exterminate this tribe.

In British India the missionaries are making

352 MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS

practically no headway. Nearly all their converts
are Christians for revenue only. A friend of mine
who has just made a tour of the world visited Burma,
among other places, and, like Judge Fielding Hall,
he was delighted with the people ; their honesty and
their simplicity were very remarkable. On meeting
an American missionary, he asked him how he was
prospering ; and the missionary replied that, in view
of the fact that my friend was an Englishman instead
of an American, he did not mind telling him the truth,
but he must not give it away. He said : " The
" Burmese are an excellent people, and they have an
"excellent religion — much better than anything we
" have. If I were a rich man, and were not obliged
"to preach for a living, I would become a Buddhist
"to-morrow."

From Burma my friend went to China and Japan.
He liked the Chinese very much, and noticed the
curious and interesting fact that everywhere in the
East — Calcutta, Singapore, Hong-Kong, Shanghai,
and in Japan — the man who actually handles the
money at the banks is always a Chinaman. The
Chinaman is, in fact, the honest man of the East.
Still, we have among us some who would like to
engraft Chicago morality on these honest and excel-
lent people.

There are a few missionaries, mostly Americans, at
Jerusalem, and I have been told by one who knows
the place well that they actually do some good in the
Holy City. He assured me that there are a lot of
very poor Jews and Armenians, a kind of a flying
brigade, who actually earn a fair living as profes-
sional converts, changing from one religion to
another, and getting paid for it.

While in Constantinople I learned much about

MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS 353

the missionaries in Turkey. There is practically no
difference between the looks, the dress, and the lan-
guage of the Mohammedan Turk and the Christian
Armenian ; and I was informed by an Armenian
convert, who had had his soul saved more than once,
that the missionary who converted him imagined
him to be a Mohammedan. He told me that all the
converts were either Armenians or Greeks, that
Mohammedans never change their religion, and that
the Turk was an honest man.

When the Spaniards went to Mexico they found
the country inhabited by some millions of Aztecs,
who had a civilisation and religion certainly equal to
those of Spain. The Spaniards killed the greater part
of the population, burnt all their literature, which
consisted of picture writing, and carried away many
tons of gold. The Spaniards also conquered Peru,
slaughtered many of the people, carried off hundreds
of tons of gold and silver, and forced upon those who
had escaped the slaughter a religion very much inferior
to their native religion. At that time the civilisation,
the religion, and the morality of the Peruvians were
infinitely better than anything that could be found in
Spain or any other part of Europe.

The Incas believed in a Supreme Being that was
the life of the universe — an immaterial force con-
trolling matter and pervading all space. I give the
following prayer, taken from The Secret of the Pacific,
by C. Reginald Enock, F.R.G.S. : —

" Oh, Creator ; Oh, conquering Huirakocha, ever-
" present Huirakocha ; thou who art without equal unto
" the ends of the earth ; who givest life and strength
"to mankind, saying, ' Let this be man, and let this
" ' be woman '; and as thou sayest so thou givest life,
"and dost vouchsafe that men shall dwell in peace

2A

354 MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS

" and health. Thou who dwellest in the heights of
" heaven and in the storm-clouds, hear us. Grant us
"eternal life, and have us in thy keeping."

The Spaniards slaughtered eleven millions of these
people in Mexico and Peru.

In an excellent work, entitled Brown Men and
Women (1898), Mr. E. Reeves has much to say about
the missionaries to the Pacific Islanders, and I will
quote a few pages from him : —

" May it not be also of importance, in the same
" direction, to show how superior in happiness the
"healthy, singing, laughing, well-fed, fat, sober,
" land-owning, young or old South Sea Island savage,
"erect and tall, without a care or a curse, is to the
" white slave of Stepney, to the drunken barbarian
" of Glasgow Wynds ; to the landless, joyless Wilt-
" shire hind, marching stolidly, with bowed back and
" bent head, day after day nigher the workhouse ;
"and, more than all, to the starving, diseased, little
" savage children of Deptford, growing up in Old
" England a danger and a curse to the next genera-
"tion?

" Is it hopeless to make the rich feel what a sin
" against the nation it is to squander fortunes on con-
" verting (?) other races to our ways — ways that have
"bred such a terrible state of society?" (p. 11).

" It makes one's heart bleed to think of the wretched
"children in squalid English cities, giving their hard-
" earned pence to fatten missionaries and to murder
" natives by the unsuitable customs and virtues of a
" different civilisation ; it makes one shudder to think
"of the enormous sums of money wasted in building
" huge, gaudy churches, and supporting a political
" priestcraft here, while more heathens are killed in
"a day in the East End of London alone — at the very

MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS 355

"centre of Christendom — by cold, hunger, and by the
" cruel slavery and demoralisation of our unjust system
" of society, than would, in a year, miss happy, natural
" deaths in the whole of the vast South Pacific, were
"there not one missionary left" (p. 13).

"In 1878, when the island was virtually governed
" by the Wesleyans, who simply banished from the
" islands any trader or other person that made himself
"obnoxious to them, a war broke out between them
"and the Roman Catholics, and both sets of Chris-
" tians went at it, hammer and tongs, for a good
" while. As the Wesleyans were twice as numerous
" as the enemy, they killed the most men ; and con-
" sequently, their God being evidently the stronger
" of the two, they made many converts. The Roman
" Catholic priests who are being sent to these islands
" now are of a higher class than those who came
" formerly ; but it is the reverse with the Wesleyans.
" Here, as elsewhere, the ' trouble ' always began
" through the missionaries going for land and money.
" If an unfortunate native stayed away from a prayer-
" meeting, he or she was fined so many gallons of oil.
" Of course the missionaries deeply regretted the loss
" of spiritual refreshment suffered by the absentee,
"and cocoa-nut oil was very saleable " (p. 57).

" Fifty years ago their missionaries forbade the use
" of kava' to those islanders, and the result is that the
"abuse of alcoholic liquors is decimating the popula-
" tion. It is not too much to assert that this one
" tyrannous and mistaken act of the bearers of glad
" tidings has done more harm than all the self-
" devotion, adoption, and religious teaching of fifty
" years has done good " (p. 123).

' A harmless native drink. — H. S. M.

3s6 MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS

"In this delicate subject of missionary enterprise,
"as in all others, it is ultimately of the best service
" to both God and our neighbour to face the truth.
"And the truth is, that all the Churches — Free
" Church, Wesleyan, Roman Catholic, and Anglican
" — are bitter enemies in these regions, and would
" rather a native remained as he was till they could
"get at him with their special nostrum than let him
"slip away to heaven by another route. Further,
" they are ready to spend any amount of money, and
" to use unscrupulously all the temporal and spiritual
" powers they can get hold of to damage and circum-
" vent their competitors for island souls. Sometimes,
" in cases of great danger to their prestige, Pro-
"testants combine and try to crush the Roman
" Catholics ; but the rapprochement caused by this
"amiable concert lasts no longer than its special
" occasion " (p. 262).

" Theocracy has always spelt tyranny, killed joy,
" and spilt blood.

" Nowhere has this missionary spirit shown itself
" more clearly than in the history of the kingdom of
" Tonga. The old story — grasping at land, grasping
"at political power, creating new sins, giving fresh
" terrors to death, lashing bodies to promote a Chris-
" tian spirit, forbidding amusements to save souls ;
" driving at the sword's point to church to disseminate
" particular doctrines, tyrannising to promote brotherly
" love, inciting disciples to such a pitch of fanaticism
"that they attempt to murder priests of competing
" sects to keep converts in one right way to heaven ;
" shooting the incited, misguided, religious assassins
" to bring the people back to the other " (pp. 264-65).

" F. J. Moss, in Through Atolls and Islands in the
" Great South Seas, gives a piteous description of

MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS 357

"missionary despotism and tyranny at Manihiki,
" His evident tremblings of conscience at the idea
"of criticising these men of God make the more
"forcible the facts that he lets slip : ' In the old days
" ' the priests owned no land, but were supported by
" ' the people.' (Oh, happy ' old days ' !) ' Now the
" ' native missionary pulls the wires, and the Govern-
" ' ment becomes in effect a simple theocracy, tem-
"'pered by representative institutions.' Between
" ecclesiastical and secular offences ' no legal distinc-
" ' tion is drawn.' Sabbath breaking and con-
" cupiscence are the two principal offences, and the
" ex-king's perquisite * is half of all the fines imposed
" ' on sinners ! ' For incontinency the offending man
"and woman are not only heavily fined, but are also
" drummed through the street of their village. ' At
" ' first the criminals looked foolish, but now they are
" * used to it ; the man and woman dressed in their
"'best go arm-in-arm before the drummer and the
" ' crowd, and even the Turimen (the members of

"'parliament) laugh too.' 'Healthy amusement

" ' is discouraged, and dances have been rigidly
" 'repressed by missionary law.' There is a system
" of constant espionage. On the Sabbath the hapless
"natives 'kindle no fires, smoke no tobacco,' and,
"after going five times to church, 'spend the rest of
" ' the day listlessly lolling upon their mats or sleep-
"'ing.' With bated breath Mr. Moss ventures to
" plead : ' Playing-cards are so strictly prohibited
" ' that I am almost afraid to say a word in their
" 'favour, but music surely ought to be encouraged.'
" Alas ! even the harmless accordion is confiscated
" in the name of God by these foreign tyrants. And
" all ' this has been going on for twenty years ' "
(p. 265).

3S8 MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS

" It is only just to point out here how difficult it is
" for missionaries to hinder enthusiastic proselytes
" from committing undreamt-of excesses. I copy
"again from the Correspondence Relating to the
" Fiji Native Population, 1885 : ' Besides the cases
" ' of excessive zeal the mission have had some painful
" * experience of chiefs willing to please and to excel
" ' their neighbours in their show of devotion to the
" ' Lotu ; and perhaps the most extraordinary case is
" ' that of the slaughter by night of the innocent
" ' inhabitants of three villages in the district of Nadi,
" ' in order that the chief's provision for the children's
" ' school feast the following day should exceed that
" ' of his neighbours, who had only provided turtle
" ' and pigs for the teachers. Navula, chief of Nadi,
" ' having neither turtle nor pigs, determined to

"' provide bokola, or human flesh.' How grave a

" responsibility rests on those who excite such a
" people to a high state of fanaticism " (p. 267).

" The mainspring of this great enterprise for a
" number of years, and until very recently, was the
" Rev. Shirley Baker, an autocratic missionary of
"great parts, an able organiser, statesman, adminis-
" trator, and leader of men, and the real author of the
" Constitution from which I have given extracts above.
" I will treat of his noble secular reforms in another
" place. From a religious point of view, his domina-
" tion from first to last was a theocracy of iron doctrine
" and ceaseless prayer; where subscriptions were wrung
" from terrified natives by armed policemen, and crops
" were seized in the name of God ; harmless games
" were forbidden ; women were not allowed to smoke
" tobacco ; and where draconic laws punished, by
" conveniently heavy fines, that intercourse of sexes
" considered, from time immemorial, chaste by native

MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS 359

"custom. The strictest puritanic principles of the
"cold Covenanters of Scotland and of Cromwell's
"metaphysical Independents were thrust down the
" throats of tropical native men and women, to whom
" they were quite unsuited " (p. 269).

A good deal of interesting information about the
missionaries and their propaganda will be found in
the little work of Mr. C. Cohen, Foreign Missions.
I quote a page or two in regard to the operations in
Palestine and Egypt : —

"In Palestine the C.M.S. has 177 agents. One of
"the agents, writing in the Report for 1900, says:
" ' When I look back upon the twenty-three years
"'that I have been in the country, I am simply
" ' wonder-struck at the very great results. There is
" ' no doubt that the door to the Moslem is opening
" ' more and more, especially here in Jerusalem ' "

(pp. 154-55)-

" Let us see what these ' very great results ' are. I
" have four years' reports lying before me ; they work
" out as follows : —

Year.

Agents.

Adult Baptism.

Expenditure.
£ s. d.

1895
1896
1899
1900

149
151

174

177

0
2
6
I

16,011 9 2
15,006 3 3
18,790 16 8
16,710 14 II

" Here, then, are the ' very great results ' that
" reduce the missionaries to a ' wonder-stricken ' state.
"Over 150 missionaries in four years have succeeded
" in baptising nine adults, for performing which feat
"they have received from England over sixty-six
"thousand pounds — an average cost of over seven
" thousand pounds per convert " (p. 60).

36o MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS

" In Egypt there were, in 1899, 45 agents ; in 1900,
"54. In two years they have succeeded in baptising
" one adult, for which performance they have received
"from England about ;^i2,ooo. There are several
" ' promising ' cases, however, of which the following
"may be taken as a sample. It concerns 'a great
" ' change witnessed in a Mohammedan boy about
" * eleven years old. He was brought into the hos-
" ' pital, and did not know the difference between
" ' God and Mohammed. He became interested, and
" ' begged for a New Testament to take home with
" ' him. He could not read, but,' says the missionary,
" ' he went off to his far-off village carrying his book,
"'and said to me: "I will never forget Jesus —
" ' " never ! " We have not seen him since ' " (p. 61).

" For Arabia, where there are thirteen agents, there
" is no report of anything in the shape of converts
"since 1897. But as during that year the thirteen
"failed to convert anyone, doubtless there is nothing
"to report" (p. 61).

Few will, after this survey of the work of the
missionaries, hesitate to subscribe to the eloquent
words of IngersoU : —

" Why should we convert the heathen of China and
" kill our own ? Why should we send missionaries
"across the seas and soldiers over the plains? Why
"should we send Bibles to the East and muskets to
"the West? If it is impossible to convert Indians
"who have no religion of their own — no prejudice
" for or against the ' eternal procession of the Holy
" ' Ghost ' — how can we expect to convert a heathen
"who has a religion, who has plenty of gods and
"Bibles and prophets and Christs, and who has a
" religious literature far grander than our own ? Can

MISSIONARIES IN OTHER LANDS 361

" we hope, with the story of Daniel in the lions' den,
"to rival the stupendous miracles of India? Is there
"anything in our Bible as lofty and loving as the
" prayer of the Buddhist ? Compare your ' Confession
" ' of Faith ' with the following : ' Never will I seek
"'nor receive private individual salvation — never
" ' enter into final peace alone ; but forever and
" ' everywhere will I live and strive for the universal
" ' redemption of every creature throughout all worlds.
" ' Until all are delivered, never will I leave the world
" ' of sin, sorrow, and struggle, but will remain where
"'I am.'

"Think of sending an average Presbyterian to
"convert a man who daily offers this tender, this
"infinitely generous, this incomparable prayer.
"Think of reading the 109th Psalm to a heathen
"who has a Bible of his own in which is found this
" passage : ' Blessed is that man and beloved of all
" ' the gods who is afraid of no man, and of whom
" ' no man is afraid ' " (Ingersoll's Works, Vol. I,
pp. 244-45).

CONCLUSION

I.— MIRACLES

Two thousand years ago, when paganism was totter-
ing to its fall at Rome, it was said that the day of
miracles had passed. As a matter of fact, however,
miracles never happen, and every story that is related
regarding miracles or supernatural events is a simple
falsehood.

In testing a religion it is only necessary to remove
the miracles and all the data founded on miracles, and
then examine what is left. When a Roman Catholic
priest is asked why no miracles can be performed
to-day, he often replies that the most stupendous
miracle that one could imagine is constantly per-
formed by the Church ; it consists in the changing of
a piece of bread into the real body and blood of Christ.
Now, I am quite willing to admit that if a priest
could, by his incantations and his hocus pocus, change
bread into flesh, it would be a stupendous miracle ;
but his performance lacks one little essential in order
to make it a miracle — it is not true. Instead of being
a miracle, it is simply a lie. Suppose, for instance,
that you take two bits of bread from the same loaf.
A priest takes one, and subjects it to his incantations ;
a beggar boy takes the other, and, instead of the
hocus pocus, says : " Tom, Tom, the piper's son, he
stole a pig and away he run." Suppose we submit
these two pieces of bread to the Pope, and ask if he
can detect any difference in the two. Cut them up
into several pieces, and let the Pope pick out those
which are flesh and those which are simply bread.

365

366 SPIRITUALITY— FAITH

Both will dry in a hot place, and both will get mouldy
in a damp place ; and there is not a priest in existence
who can show any difference in the effects of the two
— spiritual or otherwise.

The origin of the English expression " hocus
pocus " is derived from the priestly hoc est corpus,
which is indeed hocus pocus.

II.— SPIRITUALITY

The universe of which we form a part is certainly a
material universe. The material of which it is formed
has always existed, and will always exist ; it was
never created, and the only imponderable or spiritual
influence that has the least effect upon matter in
forming systems and worlds is brought about by the
mutual attraction of bodies for each other — that is,
the attraction of gravitation. Gravity, or the force of
which gravity is an expression, does it all.

The spirituality with which religious people claim
to be endowed, and which is a faculty totally unknown
to scientific men, is altogether imaginary. There is
not a doctor in existence who can tell whether his
patient is suffering from spirituality or indigestion.
The only spirituality that has any influence upon reli-
gious matters is the spirits of wine — vulgarly, alcohol.

III.— FAITH

As our unthinking and misguided ancestors were
taught by the priests that the only road to heaven was
through faith and an ability to believe the most
ridiculous and impossible fables, they naturally took
pride in their faith, and it was not uncommon for the
cavaliers to swear by their faith. Of course, if a man

Bible Picture.

Elijah Ascends to Hea\'en in a Chariot of Fire.

According to the Christian religion, it is generally
(necessary for one to die before he can get into
Heaven ; but there are exceptions to this rule, as will be
seen by the quotation and the picture : " And it came to
" pass as they still went on, and talked, that, behold,
" there appeared a chariot of fire, and parted them both
" asunder ; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into
'" Heaven " (2 Kings ii, 11).

Bible Picture.

A Lively Skirmish in the Skies.

If the missionaries could give an exhibition of this
ikind in China, it would do more to convert the Chinese
'than all the preaching in the world.

To face p. j66.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE 367

has sufficient faith, he can believe anything. No
religion ever has been, or ever can be, founded, on
fact. Faith must, therefore, necessarily form the
basis of all forms of religion.

In the discussions and correspondence that I have
had with extremely religious old ladies — of both sexes
— parsons, etc., I have ascertained that a good many
of these people imagine that the gratification which
they derive from believing something that is impos-
sible— the enjoyment that they find in believing — is
an evidence of the truth of that particular brand of
religion with which they are afflicted. The Catholic
gets an immense amount of gratification out of the
sacrament, while to all other Christians the very idea
of a fiesh-and- blood sacrament is not only horrid, but
blasphemous.

If it could be shown that an intense belief in a
certain faith was peculiar to that faith and not shared
by others, it might be construed as a proof of its
truth. As a matter of fact, however, the intensity of
belief among the Mohammedans, especially the
howling dervishes, is quite equal to anything that can
be found in the numerous forms of Christianity.

IV.— THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE

UPON THE CIVILISATION OF

EUROPE AND AMERICA

Among unthinking religious people we often hear
such expressions as these : " The Bible is indeed a
great heritage," "The Bible is the basis of our
civilisation," " It is the Bible that makes us what we
are," " The Bible is the inspired word of God," " The
Bible is absolutely true from cover to cover," etc.,
etc., etc., ad nauseam.

368 THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE

Let us now see what the state of Europe would
have been at the present time if Christianity had not
been formulated and forced upon us. It is admitted
by every intellectual man who has a fair knowledge
of the history of Europe that our civilisation has been
retarded more than a thousand years in consequence
of the introduction of Christianity.

It is known that the ancient Greeks were a highly
intellectual people; they were very advanced in every-
thing that relates to civilisation ; in many things they
have never been surpassed. The Greek architecture is,
and always has been, the most beautiful in the world,
and we never have been able to equal the Greeks in
sculpture. Euclid is to-day the basis of some of our
mathematical formulce. But Greek civilisation came
to an abrupt and ignominious end. Christianity came,
and the wicked and bigoted priests sought to destroy
all the learning of the past. They broke and destroyed
the beautiful statuary, which they were too wicked to
appreciate, and quite unable to reproduce; and Europe
sank into a state of ignorance, vice, and degradation
which it is absolutely impossible to describe. The
wisest, the best, and the noblest of mankind were exter-
minated, many of them being burnt alive to propitiate
the moloch of the wickedest and most debasing form
of superstition that the world has ever known. This
state of affairs continued for more than a thousand
years, and we may therefore assume that this wicked
superstition retarded progress for more than a thousand
years. If we wish to imagine where we should be
to-day if this dreadful curse had never come upon us,
we have only to look forward and reflect what the
state of affairs will be in a thousand years from now.
The coal and iron in England are already getting
scarce, and within two hundred years there will be

THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE 369

very little left. This is also true of Germany and
France. In five hundred years the iron in Russia,
Norway, and Sweden will have become very scarce ;
and in the United States of America the best quality
of iron ore will have become scarce in about three
hundred years. The Americans, however, will have
coal enough for some thousands of years.

It is difficult to see how our affairs will be managed
when the coal mines become exhausted. In all proba-
bility, Europe will be supplied with coal not only
from the United States, but also from China. China
at the present time probably has the largest supply of
good coal in the world, and more of the very best kind
of iron ore than all the rest of the world. China has
a splendid climate and a rich and productive soil, as
well as a vast population of the best workers in the
world ; therefore it is safe to assert that in a thousand
years from now China will be the greatest, the richest,
and most important country in the world. Europe
and America will have to depend more upon agri-
culture than at the present time. By that time the
Chinese race will have spread into Siberia, and Siberia
will have become one of the greatest agricultural
countries in the world.

Some English philosophers are of the opinion that
within five hundred years there will be only three
countries in the world — China, which will include
the whole of Asia and part of Africa ; Russia, which
will include the whole of Europe and Northern Africa ;
and America, which will include the whole continent
with adjacent islands. Some have expressed their
opinion that there will be only two nations— China
and America— and that the East and the West will
face each other on the British Channel, England
becoming the great outlying naval station of America.

3B

370 THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE

The whole earth and everything that relates to it
are in aconstant state of transition. We can reason out
what we expect to take place, and what should take
place, according to the logic on which we rely. But it
is never wise to prophesy. It is, however, safe to say
that China is bound to have a very great future, and
that the time is not very far distant when, in virtue
of her many advantages, she will occupy the first
place among the nations of the world. But in order
to occupy this place, which so justly belongs to her,
it will be necessary to organise, study the use of
arms, and have sufficient trained soldiers, ready at
all times to repel attempts at invasion. If the country
is to be invaded by the various nations of the West,
it means that it will be divided up ; and the people
in each particular division will find themselves in a
position where it will be necessary for them to forego
all the luxuries of life and work very hard in order to
pay the taxes, indemnities, etc., which will be imposed
upon them. China should never lose sight of the
fact that all the wars that have been made upon her
up to the present time have been wars of spoliation.
The wars of the future will probably be of the same
kind, and will be made continually, as long as China
is able to pay indemnities, or until China is able to
defend herself, and thus demand the same respect
from Europe which the Europeans now have for the
United States.

The United States is, like China, a great and very
rich nation, and there is much there which Europeans
would like to possess ; but the Americans are a nation
of fighters, and on that account are treated very
differently to the Chinese. If the Chinese wish to be
treated and respected like the Americans, they must
be able to fight like Americans.

CHINESE CHILDREN— RECENT ATROCITIES 371

v.— THE CHINESE AND THEIR CHILDREN

(See p. 219)

" A saying celebrated in Europe praises the art of
"lying: ' Keep on lying ; some of it will stick.' There
"can be no better proof of the truth of this principle
" than the opinion which has grown up in France
"concerning the fate of certain little Chinese, whom
" it appears their cruel parents throw upon the
" rubbish-heap, and abandon to the voracity of
" domestic animals.

" In itself this institution of La Sainte Enfante is
" of so touching a character, when the halfpence of
" happy childhood are collected to administer to the
" needs of a childhood that is miserable — those half-
" pence intended for useless sweetmeats, and destined
" to be changed to a treasure — that one can hardly
"help admiring and believing in the fable. These

"poor little Chinese thrown What perfidious

"imagination could invent such an infamous story?"
(Translated by James Millington from Les Chinois
Peints Par Eux-Memes, by Col. Tcheng-Ki-Tong).

VI.— RECENT CHRISTIAN ATROCITIES

My Chinese readers should not be led to believe
that the unspeakable crimes committed by the Chris-
tian invaders of China are at all exceptional. On the
contrary, such outrages always take place when the
true Christian followers of the Bible make war upon
non-Christian people.

In that part of Turkey now being invaded by the
orthodox Christians of the Balkan States there was,
until recently, a mixed population of Christians and
Mohammedans. The Christians — called Comitajis —
were warlike, disorderly, and always giving trouble ;

372 RECENT CHRISTIAN ATROCITIES

while the Mohammedans were quiet, law-abiding, and
peace-loving. When the Christian soldiers invaded
that country, the Comitajis at once attacked their
Mohammedan neighbours and killed them by thou-
sands.

The following is taken from the Daily Telegraph of
February 20, 1913, and is by E. Ashmead-Bartlett,
the well-known and experienced war correspondent : —

" I saw a group of wretched, shivering, semi-starv-
" ing women and children outside the door of the
" Consulate ; and each, on being admitted, had the
" same tale of misery to unfold — of their villages
" having been burnt, of their homes destroyed, of
"their cattle carried off, and of their few household
" effects abandoned to the enemy.

" Happy were those whose story stopped with the
" loss of home and household goods. But many had
" worse tales to tell, too horrible for repetition, of
" husbands, brothers, and fathers slaughtered before
"their eyes, of daughters outraged, and of other
" unnameable horrors perpetrated by the Comitajis —
" the local Greek and Bulgarian Christians. The
" moment the Turkish authorities are forced to flee,
" these villagers turn on the Moslem population the
" concentrated hatred of centuries, shooting the men,
"outraging the women, and even killing the children.
" They burn their houses about their heads, and drive
"the survivors from their homes into the hills, frozen
"by the winter's snows. The outrages which have
"been perpetrated by the local Comitajis would hardly
"be believed in Europe."'

' In this case it was not wliite men fig'hting' black men, brown
men, or yellow men, but whites of different religions fig-hting each
other. The Comitajis are intensely orthodox Christians, and their
conduct is strictly in accordance with the teachings of their Bible.
— H. S. M.

AN APPEAL TO THE MISSIONARIES 373

VII — AN APPEAL TO THE MISSIONARIES

In the foregoing pages I have produced many wit-
nesses of the very highest order — English and
American officials, college professors, historians, men
of letters, travellers, engineers, and even missionaries.
All testify to the utter folly and wickedness of attempt-
ing to force our religious systems upon the unwilling
Chinese nation.

Every type of Christianity — and there are many
types — has sprung from one parent stalk ; not from
Palestine, as many suppose, but from Rome. The
parent stalk was created at Rome in the second and
third centuries by priests and monks. Quite true,
a portion of this religion, and by far the least objec-
tionable part, was taken over from the preceding
religion of the pagans. The distinctive Christian
dogmas invented at Rome were so preposterous and
unreasonable that they were not readily accepted by
the people. The religion produced at that time was,
in fact, a mis-fit religion ; but the Roman ecclesiastics,
instead of modifying it to suit the people, sought to
modify the people to suit the religion. In order to
accomplish this, it was necessary to exterminate all
those who refused to accept the new doctrine ; and
this procedure was continued for more than twelve
centuries, the greater number of the victims being
burnt alive. It is estimated by historians that in the
religious wars and persecutions about a thousand
millions of mankind lost their lives. In the end,
however, a distinct type of mankind was produced — a
type that actually took pleasure in believing the most
impossible doctrines, and for a time comparative
uniformity prevailed. However, a few thinking men
were constantly arising who refused to accept or

374 AN APPEAL TO THE MISSIONARIES

pretend to believe the foolish and impossible doctrines
of the Church. Ultimately the Church became
unable to enforce its system of artificial clerical selec-
tion in Northern Europe, and this led to the Reforma-
tion. As the number of thinking men constantly
increased, we have to-day two distinct types of man-
kind in Europe and America — namely, those who are
the result of clerical selection, and have no power to
reason on religious subjects ; and the other a natural
type, which can reason on all subjects alike.

In taking our religion to China, we find the Chinese
mind in its natural condition. The Chinese think the
same as our ancestors thought before Christianity
made its appearance, and if we wish them to accept
our doctrines it is necessary to pursue the same road
and employ the same means that were found neces-
sary in Rome — that is, the Chinese mind must be
reduced to fit our religion, and this can only be done
by exterminating those who will not accept it. If in
Europe it took over twelve hundred years and cost
countless millions of lives to force Christianity
upon the people, it will certainly be quite as diffi-
cult and cost quite as much to modify the Chinese
mind. If we should murder on the same scale
in China that we did in Europe, we should have
to destroy at least two thousand millions of the
Chinese before we should have reduced their reason-
ing powers sufficiently to fit them to our religion.
Would it not be infinitely better to leave the Chinese
mind as it is ? Instead of reducing the intellectual capa-
city of that great nation after the manner of Europe in
the Middle Ages, would it not be better to modify our
religion to fit the Chinese mind as we find it to-day?

Our Protestant missionaries have shown their
activity in China for only something less than a

AN APPEAL TO THE MISSIONARIES 375

hundred years ; still, during that time they have
spent some millions of pounds. Not only this, but
their propaganda, being distasteful to the Chinese,
has caused an infinite amount of trouble. It is quite
possible that ten thousand Chinamen have been con-
verted to Christianity up to the present time— that is,
if we include the rice Christians ; and these ten
thousand converts have cost China over fifteen
millions of lives and much territory. Moreover,
China has been made to pay in indemnities a sum
which amounts to ;^20,ooo per convert — or, say, each
convert has cost the Chinese nation fifteen hundred
lives and three times the weight of the convert in
gold. It may be said that the Chinese have brought
on these wars themselves by attacking the missionaries.
China is a vast empire, having a population four times
as large as that of the Great Republic. Intercom-
munication is slow and uncertain, and, no matter how
powerful the central Government at Pekin may be, it
is just as impossible for it to protect unpopular foreign
missionaries in every nook and corner as it would be
for England to protect Chinese missionaries in Ireland.
Does anyone doubt that, if the Chinese were to send
some hundreds of missionaries into the South and
West of Ireland to attack and ridicule the Roman
Catholic religion, they would be fiercely attacked by
the Irish? In some of the missionary publications
we find illustrations showing the missionaries burning
the gods and idols of the Buddhists. Suppose that
the Chinese should burn the wooden gods and crosses
of the Catholics in Ireland, would it not be very diffi-
cult for the British Government in London to protect
these missionaries and prevent them from being mur-
dered on the spot? So it is in China ; there is always
danger that the Chinese living in the distant provinces

376 AN APPEAL TO THE MISSIONARIES

will resent the attacks made upon their religious system
by the missionaries, and wars are sure to be brought
about unless this missionary propaganda can be greatly
modified or abandoned altogether.

I have adduced abundant evidence in the foregoing
pages to prove that the Chinese are certainly as moral
as any other people in the world. It cannot, there-
fore, be claimed that their morality or welfare will be
improved by a change in their religion. No system
of civilisation has ever been evolved that has enabled
so many human beings to live in comfort off a square
mile of territory as that to be found in China to-day.
This will have to be admitted by everyone who has
made a study of the subject ; but in reply to this the
missionaries and their supporters say : " We have
"our marching orders from on high — ' Go ye into all
" ' the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.' "
I will admit that this is a direct command from the
Bible, and a command that has cost the world
hundreds of millions of lives. We have already
disregarded other similar commands with very good
results ; why not disregard this one also?

Three hundred years ago our ancestors, finding
the command in their Bible, " Thou shalt not suffer a
"witch to live " (Exodus xxii, i8), pursued, tortured,
and burnt alive tens of thousands of poor, ignorant
old women for the impossible crime of witchcraft.
At the present time we all know that there never was
such a thing in the world as a witch. The burning
of these poor old creatures was indeed murder most
foul — nothing could be worse. This command is
still in the Bible, and there is just as much authority
for observing it as there is for the still more disastrous
command, " Go ye into all the world and preach the
" Gospel to every creature." It should be remembered

AN APPEAL TO THE MISSIONARIES 377

that both of these commands, which have been so
destructive of human life, were written by profoundly
ignorant men, who did not know of the existence of
China or America. They did not know that the
world was round ; to them " the world " meant Asia
Minor, a part of Northern Africa, and the Eastern
corner of Europe.

If this latter command could be disregarded like
the former, it would save millions of lives, and do
much to secure the peace of the world. I therefore
implore the missionaries to withdraw from China and
allow the Chinese to enjoy their own religion, in their
own country, in their own way.

Although the land in China has been under a high
state of cultivation for many thousands of years, it is
still the most fertile in the world ; it has not been
ruined, but improved, by cultivation. The land in
Asia Minor was originally the same as that of China ;
but the turmoil and destruction of human life by
religious wars and persecutions have been such as
to make an intelligent cultivation of the soil impos-
sible ; the land has been ruined, and much that was
once equal to that of China has become a barren
desert. Would it not be infinitely better to withdraw
our missionaries from China, and allow them to
spend their money and exert their energies in reclaim-
ing the religion-made deserts of Asia Minor, always
bearing in mind that in this world at least it is more
blessed to plant a single tree than to save a thousand
problematical souls ?

VIII.— FAILURE OF MISSIONARY
PROPAGANDA

" The sincerity, the earnestness, the persistence,
"the patience and hopefulness of the missionaries

378 FAILURE OF MISSIONARY PROPAGANDA

" were obvious all through their life and conversation ;
" but it seemed equally obvious that their work and
" life were a failure, that their hopes were doomed to
" disappointment, and that it would have been better
" for themselves and for the world at large that they
" should be earning a livelihood in their own country.
" The mission work proper — the work of converting
"adult Chinese — there, as in all China, can only be
" described as an absolute, complete, and total failure.
"If an adult Chinaman, not brought up from an
" early age under Christian influences, professes to
" become converted to Christianity, it is to be feared
" that he is a liar. That fear is based upon the solid
" ground of experience " (Arnot Reid, From Peking
to Petersburg, p. 74).

INDEX

Absolutions, sale of, 127
Address, Mr. Austin's, xviii
Agriculturists, Chinese, 179, 191;

French, 192, 237
America, Chinese in, 178,80;

persecution in, 147 ; witchcraft

in. 93
Americans in China, 292, 311
Artificial selection, 170
Astronomers, Chinese, 180
Atrocities, Christian, 76, 371
Aztecs, 176, 353

Ball, Sir Robert, 27

Benedict IX, Pope, 138

Bible, the, 339 ; Catholics oppose

use of, 7, 262 ; in China, 261 ;

influence of the, 367
Biblical scholars, admissions by,

339
Bokola, 358

Books, Chinese, 204, 304
Boxers, 301

British India, missionaries in, 351
Bruno, 49, 158 ; denounced and

burnt, 54
Buddha, virgin birth of, 36
Buddhism, 24, 33, 177, 257, 352
Buddhist temples, 272
Bulas, 129
Burmese, 352

Calvin and spirituality, 163

Canton, cathedral at, 244

Carlyle, 155

Cathay, 175

Catholicism, 178, 265

Cauchon, 103

Chicago, morality of, 168, 275 ;

squeezing in, 215
China, Americans in, 292, 311 ;

American missionaries in, 275 ;

charity in, 209 ; crime in, 179,
213,276; crops in, 193; Ger-
man missionaries in, 253, 296,
301, 316 ; Government of, 188,
295, 299 ; Jesuits in, 201, 257 ;
Le Compte on, 197 ; miracles
in, 176, 200 ; missionary pros-
pects in, 210, 313; missionary
presumption in, 240 ; Moham-
medans in, 205, 236 ; my first
interest in, xi ; population of,
255 ; Protestant missionaries
in, 261 ; religion in, 199 ; reli-
gions of, 176, 196, 200; Russians
i">. 302> 309 ; squeezing in, 215 ;
suicide in, 209, 302 ; theft and
robbery in, 209, 306 ; wife-
beating in, 208 ; working
classes in, 208

Chinaman, trades of a, 190 ; to
kick a, 292

Chinese agriculturists, 179, 191 ;
ancestors of the, 175 ; and
children, 219, 371 ; astrono-
mers, 180, 319 ; character of
the, 181, 211, 216, 330; civilisa-
tion of the, 176, 191, 212, 258 ;
competition by the, 190; dis-
coveries by the, 178 ; emi-
grants, 180, 300, 329, 332 ;
European treatment of, 292 ;
Hell, 201 ; in America, 329,
332 ; intelligence of the, 195 ;
inventions of the, 178 ; labour-
ers, 330 ; lies, 159 ; morality ot
the, 207 ; peasant, the, 192 ;
politeness of the, 194; slanders
of the, 182, 285 ; sobriety of the,
217; soil, value of the, 192;
soldier, the, 187; songs of the,
188; superstition of the, 255

Christians, rice, 275

379

38o

INDEX

Christianity, xiii, s, 32, 133, 211,
263, 315, 337 ; and Buddhism,
33, 178, 201, 272 ; in China, 201,
262 ; and Paganism, 28 ; and
persecution, 37 ; kinds of, 336,
373 ; origin of, 336
Concessions, demanding, 296
Confucius, X, 37, 177, ig6, 201,

257. 327. 33 1 > 347

Confucianism, 197, 202, 205, 348

Constantine, 134

Constantinople, storming of, 122

Concubines, Christian, 137, 145

Coolies, massacre of three hun-
dred, 322

Creation, Christian idea of the,
9 ; Chinese, 201

Crops, Chinese, 193

Culagium, 145

Darwin and Spirituality, 163 ;

lies about, 157
David, King, 15
Demonology, 113, 172
Devils, 29, 58, 99, 113, 172, 25s
Dog, evolution of the, 170

Eden, Garden of, 9
Egypt, missionaries in, 360
England in the Age of Faith, 117
Europeans, China's first trouble

with, 300 ; treatment of Chinese

by, 292
Eyes, scoop out the, 161, 285 ;

silver from, 160

Faith, 366

Famine, sword, and fire, 41
Fathers Hue and Gabet, 34
Fenacute and Spanish Invasion,

no
Father Feron, 247
Filial Piety, 189, 201, 275
Flaramarion, 25
Foreign appointees, 184

missions, Mr. Cohen on, 359

Freethinkers, murder of, 48
Fung Shui, 248, 279, 315

Galileo, 59, 158
Genealogy of Christ, 344
German missionaries in China,

2S3i 29s, 301, 316; officers in
Nanking, 186
Germans in China, robbery by,

319
Germany, Inquisition in, 90
Giants, intellectual, 171
Gladstone and demonology, 4
God, 9, 16, 4S, 149, 317 ; sacri-
fices to, 17 ; his tribute of
maidens, 16
Gods, other, 12
God-box, Jews construct a, 11
Golden Rule, the, 177, 201
Gotama, wisdom of, 24
Great Britain and opium, 224
Greeks, Ancient, 368

Hell, 113 ; Chinese sent to, 280

Henry VIII, 44, 119

Hog worship, 285

Holy Ghost, fingers of the, 120

Hongkong, session of, 295

Hue, Father, 34

Human workmanship, relics of,

339
Hypatia, murder of, 49

" I COME not to bring peace,"

etc., 17
Incas, 3S3
Incest, 137, 140, 143
Indemnity, xxi

Indemnities, summary of, 325
Indulgences, plenary, 128
Ingersoll, hes about, 162
Inquisition, the, 82 ; established,

43 ; in Germany, 90 ; in Ireland,

77 ; in the Netherlands, 70 ; in

Spain, 46
Innocent VIII, Bull of Pope, 287
Ireland, religious persecution in,

77
Ivan Chen, 254

Japan, missionaries and, 318

Jerusalem, missionaries in, 352

Jeseus Chrishna, 336

Jesus Christ, 41 ; historicity of,
336, 341. 347 ; genealogy of, 344

Joan of Arc, 102

John VIII and the Mohamme-
dans, 13s

XII, Pope, 137

INDEX

381

John XXIII, morality of, 140
Jumpers, 124

Ketteler, Baron von, 321
Kia Chow, seizure of, 295, 301, 316
Kings and Pope compared, 141
Kowtow, the, 278

Labrador, missionaries in, 351
Law, international, 328
Leo III, Pope, 135

X, Pope, 46, 1 16

Li Hung- Chang, ix, xxii, 3, 287
Lies, deliberate, 166 ; missionary,

252 ; the Church that, 155
Life, first germs of, 23
Liver, boiled, 113
Loh Fung Lu, 3, 178
Loot, 308, 329
Luther, 148

Madagascar, converts in, 350

Maidens, God's tribute of, 16

Majority does not rule, 5

Malleus Malificarum, 87

Man, antiquity of, 339

Manchuria, Russian campaign in,
322

Marchetta or Marquette, 144

Marozia, 136

Matrimonial relation, 161

Medical missions, 270

Midianites, destruction of the, 14

Millions sacrificed, 47, 85

Miracles, 365

Mission, the Cheh Kiang, 269

Missionaries, x, 149, 240, 260,
283, 300, 316, 350 ; and France,
282 ; and opium, 263 ; and
Russia, 238, 282 ; American,
275 ; and the law, 242 ; and
measles, 350 ; an appeal to the,
373 ; German, 253 ; hatred of,
210, 265 ; how to deal with,
334 ; in South Sea Islands,
355 ; low type of, 273 ; my first
interest in, xi ; my next contact
with, xvii ; Protestant, 261 ;
slanders of the, 285

Missionary looters, 308 ; propa-
ganda, failure of, 260, 377 ;
regulations, 317 ; reports, 270

Mohammed, 130

Mohammedans in China, 205, 236
Morality, 150

Naked reptile, i6i
Nero, 130

Netherlands, persecution in the, 70
New York, churches in, 168 ;
disorderly houses in, 168

Old Testament, Canon Driver

on. 339
Opium, 190, 211, 224, 291, 311
Orlando defeats Fenacute, no
Other gods, 12
Otho I, Emperor, 137

Paganism, Christianity and, 28
Paine, Thomas, 157, 163
Papacy, history of the, 140
Paper men and horses, 160
Parallel, an Old Kent Road, 287
Parricide, 276 ; punishment of,

324
Paschal I, Pope, 135
Pekin, sacking of, 254
Persians, Jerusalem overwhelmed

by the, 31
Popes and kings compared, 141 ;

crimes of the, 134 ; incest of

the, 137, 140
Praying machine, 256 ; wheel,

127
Prostitution of Israel, 142 ; reli-
gious, 143
Protestantism, 133, 146, 261
Punishment, fees for inflicting,

131

Ransom, virgins for, 31

Reason denounced, 40

Relics, 123

Religion, 150, 177 ; Devil, 172 ;
evolution of, 169 ; imposition
of, 167

Religions, Congress of, xxiii

Ricci, 300

Rice, cultivation of, 188 ; Chris-
tians, 275

Robber rights and raids, 306, 324

Robbery, rapine, and destruc-
tion, 320

Robert-Houdin and miracles, 94

Rochester, visit to, xi

382

INDEX

Rooster eggs, 99

Russia, missionaries and, 238,

282
Russians in China, 302, 308

Sahaline, massacre at, 322

Sante Enfance, La, 156, 219

Salem, martyrs of, 148

Sandwich Islands, missionaries
in, 349 ; population of, 350

Saracens, extermination of
Spanish, 47

Satan, 35, 89, 92, 95

Satanic agency, 87 ; influence,
88 ; power, 89, 92

Science, 151 ; the teaching of, 20

Scotland, morality of, 145

Scotch during seventeenth cen-
tury, III

Se-Chuen, Bishop of, 246

Selection, clerical, 172

Servetus, 147, 163

Shanghai, riots in, 296

Shrines, medical efficacy of, 120

South Sea Islands, 354

Space, no limit to, 26

Spain, Christian invasion of, 109 ;
Inquisition in, 46

Spirituality, 162, 366

Summis Desiderantes, 87

Suns, innumerable, 25
Superstition, 151, 154, 255,
Sweden, morality of, 145
Syphilis, 116, 144

236

257

Taiping rebellion,
Te-jin, 161
Theocracy, 356
Theodora, 136
Theodorus, Bishop, 135
Tonga, kingdom of, 356
Torquemada, 46, 82
Torrey, Dr., 156
Transubstantiation in China, 273
Tung-Chow, troops at, 320
Turkey, missionaries in, 353

Urban VI, Pope, 139

Viva Kananda, xxiii
Voltaire, 157, 163, 237

Witchcraft, 86 ; and Joan of
Arc, 102 ; in America, 93 ; in
Germany, 90 ; in Scotland, 97

Witch spots, 99

Xavier, St. Francis, 237, 251
Yehonala, 312

WATTS AND CO., PRINTERS, JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.

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